|
Five Minute Study - SPANISH and ENGLISH compared Guía de la gramática inglesa...
En estas lecciones breves se comparan el inglés hablado y coloquial con el español con el fin de ayudar al estudiante a apreciar tanto las diferencias como las similitudes lingüísticas entre los dos idiomas.
Prepositions (1)
Spanish preposition "a" and English translations
Eg.: a la escuela to the school
( a + el = al ) Voy al mercado I'm going to the market
Firstly, we should look at examples where the preposition a is not used:
Spanish a doesn't translate from English at in phrases like:
He's at school all day Está en el colegio todo el día
My wife's at the Doctor's Mi esposa está en la consulta del médico
The plane landed at Barajas Airport El avión aterrizó en el Aeropuerto de Barajas
Learners of English have to note the following:
Los alumnos fueron al colegio (a la escuela) / al instituto esta mañana (colegio = primary school, escuela = school in general) The students went to school / to high school / this morning
La madre de Juan fue al colegio para hablar con el director Juan's mother went to the school to speak to the headmaster
Note that the second sentence uses article the as the mother is a visitor and does not regularly attend school as a student. This subtle difference is not reflected in Spanish. Also similar is:
Después de la sentencia llevaron a Paco a la cárcel After the sentence they took Paco to prison
La madre de Juan cogió el autobus / a la / para la / cárcel para visitarle Juan's mother took the bus to the prison to visit him
Note no article the is used when referring to an inmate (criminal) but the is used when referring to a visitor.
Learners of Spanish can appreciate that Spanish a is often used to translate English to when it means "towards" or an approximate meaning of "towards". In fact, Spanish a is used with nearly all verbs of motion and is used with adverb particles + to: into, onto, on, down, up and at when preceded by a verb of motion.
We went to make an appointment Fuimos / a que / para que / nos diera cita
Learners of English, note that in and on can be used as prepositions of motion: into, onto with no difference in meaning:
We got / into / in /the car Subimos al coche
We went down to the first floor Bajamos a la primera planta
But note, learners of Spanish: The leaves went down the drain Las hojas bajaron / el / al / desagüe No preposition a possible perhaps because no destination mentioned or implied. Eg.:
He broke his own record by scaling Everest for the fifteenth time Batió su propio record al escalar el Everest por decimoquinta vez
The verb escalar centres on the action of climbing rather than saying he reached the top (even though we understand by the meaning of the sentence that he did, in fact, reach the summit). But escalar will rarely take a. Compare:
He climbed Everest Subió al Everest
The verb subir suggests more strongly that the summit was reached. Subir usually takes a in this context.
We had to wait to get / on / onto / the plane Teníamos que esperar para subir al avión
The baby climbed on / onto / the chair El bebé (se) subió a la silla
But, I want to put this lamp on the wall / on the ceiling / on the floor Quiero poner esta lámpara en la pared / en el techo / en el suelo
But then, Se desmayó y cayó al suelo She fainted and fell down / on / onto / the floor
The boy threw a stone at the window El niño tiró una piedra a la ventana
However, note,
learners of English: arrive is
not considered a verb of motion so we can never say
arrive
¿A qué hora llegamos a Madrid? What time do we arrive in Madrid? (in is used when driving by car or on foot)
¿A qué hora llegamos a Madrid? What time do we arrive at Madrid? (at is used when referring to a train station, bus station or an airport)
But English often substitutes arrive for get to:
I / got to / arrived at / work late this morning Llegué tarde al trabajo esta mañana
The English to is omitted when get is used with "home", as with other verbs of motion but a is not omitted in Spanish:
We got home around two Llegamos a casa sobre las dos
Do you know what? My cat's come home again! ¿Sabes qué? Mi gato ha vuelto a casa
Bad dog! Go home! ¡Perro malo! ¡Vete a casa!
Five Minute Study es © copyright 2011 English Spanish Link
|