Tu novia saluda a su tía y a su prima.

Questions & Answers about Tu novia saluda a su tía y a su prima.

Why is there an a before su tía?
In Spanish, when the direct object of a sentence (the person or thing receiving the action) is a specific person, you must put the word a in front of it. This is known as the personal 'a'. Because the aunt (su tía) is a person being greeted, she gets the personal a.
Why do we repeat the a before su prima? Can we just say a su tía y su prima?
You need to repeat it. When a verb has multiple direct objects that are people, the personal a must be repeated before each individual person in the list.
The translation says 'his aunt,' but doesn't su also mean 'her'?
Yes, it does! The possessive adjective su can mean his, her, their, or your (formal). Without more context, su tía could easily be 'her aunt.' The translation assumes she is greeting a specific guy's family, but 'her aunt and her female cousin' is an equally correct translation.
Why doesn't tu novia need a personal a? She is a person too.
The personal a is only used for the object of the sentence (the person receiving the action). Here, your girlfriend (tu novia) is the subject (the one doing the greeting), so no a is needed.

Learn Tu novia saluda a su tía y a su prima and more in Spanish

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free