Breakdown of Pienso ir al cine el sábado.
el cine
the cinema
ir
to go
al
to the (m)
pensar
to think
el sábado
the Saturday
Questions & Answers about Pienso ir al cine el sábado.
Why does pienso mean 'I am planning' here instead of 'I think'?
When you use the verb pensar (to think) followed directly by another verb in its basic infinitive form (like ir), the meaning changes to 'to plan to' or 'to intend to' do something. So pienso ir translates to 'I plan to go' or 'I am planning to go'.
Why is there an 'i' in pienso if the original verb is pensar?
Pensar is a stem-changing verb. This means that in the present tense, the vowel e in the stem changes to ie for most forms, including the 'I' form. That is why it is pienso and not penso.
Why do we say el sábado instead of translating the English word 'on'?
In Spanish, you never use a preposition to say 'on' a certain day. To say 'on Saturday', you simply use the masculine word for 'the' (el) right before the day of the week: el sábado.
Why is it al cine rather than a el cine?
Whenever the preposition a (to) is followed right away by the masculine article el (the), they must combine into the single contracted word al. Writing or saying a el is grammatically incorrect in Spanish.
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