Breakdown of ¿Jugamos al ajedrez esta tarde?
al
to the (m)
jugar
to play
la tarde
the afternoon / the evening
este
this (m.sg., also esta, estos, estas, esto)
el ajedrez
chess
Questions & Answers about ¿Jugamos al ajedrez esta tarde?
Why is Jugamos translated as "Shall we play" instead of just "Do we play"?
Why is there an al before ajedrez? We don't say "play to the chess" in English.
In Spanish, when you play a sport or a game, you always use the formula jugar a + [the game]. Because chess is a masculine noun (el ajedrez), the preposition a and the word el combine into the contraction al.
Isn't jugar a stem-changing verb? Why is it spelled jugamos and not juegamos?
Why is it esta tarde and not este tarde?
The word tarde (afternoon) is a feminine noun, even though it doesn't end in -a. Because it is feminine, it needs the feminine word for "this", which is esta.
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