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Questions & Answers about ¿Jugamos a las cartas?
Why is there an 'a' after 'jugamos'? In English, we just say 'play cards'.
In Spanish, when you talk about playing a game or a sport, you must use the verb jugar followed by the preposition a. You cannot just say jugamos las cartas; it has to be jugamos a las cartas.
Why do we need the word 'las' here? Couldn't we just say 'a cartas'?
Spanish requires the definite article (el, la, los, or las) after jugar a when naming the game or sport. So, you say jugar a las cartas (to play cards) or jugar al fútbol (to play soccer), always including the article.
The translation says 'Shall we play', but isn't 'jugamos' just the present tense 'we play'?
Could I use 'tarjetas' instead of 'cartas' for playing cards?
No, tarjetas is used for things like credit cards (tarjetas de crédito) or birthday cards. For a deck of playing cards, as well as for written letters sent in the mail, you must use cartas.