The personal a: veo a María

Explication

When the direct object is a definite person, insert a: llamé a mi madre, vi a los vecinos. It also covers personified pets (paseo a mi perro) and pronouns like alguien/nadie: no veo a nadie.

Skip it with tener (tengo dos hermanos), with non-specific people (busco un plomero — any plumber), and with things (veo el problema). It is untranslatable — never render it as 'to'.

Exemples

Règles liées

• The preposition a: direction, time, manner
• Direct object pronouns: me, te, lo, la, nos, os, los, las