Personal ‘a’
When the object of an active sentence is a person, it is preceded by the
personal a. In other words, in Spanish, the prepostition a is used
before direct objects referring to definite and specific persons.
The personal a is useful in some sentences, because it indicates which
of two nouns is the direct object and thus distinguishes it from the subject.
Look at the following examples:
¿Quiere Carlos a María? Does Charles love Mary?
¿Quiere a Carlos María? Does Mary love Charles?
With pets, but not with other animals, the personal a is
also used.
Example:
Llevé a mi perro hasta el parque.
The personal a is also used with various types of interrogative,
demonstrative, relative, and indefinite pronouns, such as ¿quién,
¿cuál?, quien, el cual, el que, alguien, ninguno, cada uno,
and nadie.
Here are some examples:
¿A quién regañó el jefe? Whom did the boss scold?
No olvides a nadie. Don’t forget anyone.
Ví por la ventana a los que Through the window I saw those who
tiraban peidras were throwing stones.
When the personal direct object refers to an indefinite rather than
to a definite person, the personal a is usually, but not always omitted.
This is especially true when the personal object is modified by a numeral
or an indefinite article.
Here are two examples:
Vimos tres cazadores en el bosque. We saw three hunters in the woods.
Oí un ladrón fuera de la casa. I heard a robber outside the house.
Check Your Learning-Personal a
Fill the blanks with the personal a if necessary.
1. No protejas_____ ese ladrón. 2. ¿Engañó
Rafael _____ alguien con su cuento? 3. Traeremos _____ su perro
ahora mismo. 4. El pobre campersino prometió _____ su
hija al hacendado. 5. ¿No vas a saludar _____ Tomás?
6. Cuando Ángel era jefe, tenía _____ cuatro empleados.
7. Ayer conocí _____ tu hermano mayor. 8. El gerente
pidió _____ otro assistente. 9. Las chicas imitaban
_____ la actriz. 10. Felipe nunca ayda _____ nadie. 11.
Juan tiene _____ tres primas rubias muy bonitas. 12. Ese juez
siempre condena _____ alguien. 13. La compañía
perdió _____ muchos excelentes obreros.
Check Your Learning-Direct Object Pronouns
Translate the following sentences into Spanish substituting the underlined
noun with the direct object pronoun.
1. Thomas looked at the pictures.
2. He received a letter.
3. She wrote me.
4. They spoke to us.
5. He eats a cookie.
6. Your mother calls you every day.
7. We cook fish every day.
8. I love you.
9. We bought the clothes.
10. I don’t know him.
Preterite Tense
This tense expresses an action that was completed at some time in the past.
Here are some examples:
Mi padre llegó ayer. My father arrived yesterday.
Tomé el desayuno a las siete. I had breakfast at seven o’clock.
¿Que pasó? What happened?
This tense is regularly formed as follows:
Drop the -ar ending of an infinitive, like hablar, and add the following
endings: é, aste, ó, amos, asteis, aron.
You then get:
hablé I talked.
hablaste You talked.
habló He/She/It talked.
hablamos We talked.
hablasteis You talked.
hablaron They talked.
Drop the -er ending of an infinitive, like beber, or the -ir ending
of an infinitive, like recibir and add the following endings: í,
iste, ió, imos, isteis, ieron.
You then get:
bebí I drank. recibí I received
bebiste You drank. recibiste You received.
bebio He/She/It drank. recibió He/She/It received
bebimos We drank. recibimos We received
bebisteis You drank. recibisteis You received.
bebieron They drank. recibieron They received.
Check Your Learning-Preterite Tense
Translate the following sentences to Spanish.
1. It rained all night.
2. I worked for an hour before going to bed.
3. Alfonso XIII was the grandfather of Juan CarlosI, the present
king of Spain.
4. Steve cut down the tree in less than two hours.
5. The carnival lasted five days.
6. My father talked for one hour.
7. She ate ten apples.
8. We received a package yesterday.
9. They saw the movie on Friday.
10. I took the bus to school.
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