Seguir vs. Seguir a

Question

Guess who it is! I'm back with yet another question about verbs and "a". I know that "seguir" means "to follow" and it is a transitive verb. However, on the dictionary of this site I also saw "seguir a algo" to mean "to follow something", and is intransitive. The example on the site says "La lluvia siguió a los truenos" as "The rain followed the thunder". To me, it still seems transitive, with "los truenos" being the direct object. Is there a grammmatical explanation as to why the "a" is needed with "seguir a"? Is there a subtle differnce between "seguir" and "seguir a"? Maybe my knowledge of transitive and intransitive verbs is wrong. Thanks in advance for your answers.

Answer 1

The RAE says:

[La preposición "a" con complementos directos se usa] ante nombres de cosa, cuando son complemento directo de verbos que significan orden lineal o jerárquico, como preceder o seguir, y otros como acompañar, complementar, modificar (en el sentido gramatical de ‘servir de adjunto o complemento’) o sustituir (en el sentido de ‘ocupar el puesto [de otra cosa]’): El otoño precede al invierno; La calma sigue a la tempestad; El adjetivo modifica al sustantivo; El aceite sustituye a la mantequilla en esta receta.

The reason for this has to do with the flexibility of Spanish:

• El trueno siguió la tormenta = The thunder followed the storm
• El trueno siguió a tormenta = The storm followed the thunder

In Spanish you can easily put the subject at the end of a sentence, so "a" is added to the direct object to prevent misunderstandings.

Answer 2

Is it easier to think of "seguir" as "to follow" and "seguir a" as "to be followed by"?

"El trueno siguió la tormenta" = "The thunder followed the storm". "El trueno siguió a la tormenta" = "The thunder was follwed by the storm" ?

• And then the English sentence is passive. - Janice Aug 18, 2009

Answer 3

Just wondering about what it really means to be transitive or intransitive here. (I probably ought to look up "seguir" first but...)

Isn't - even in English - the "follow" of "to follow someone down the street" different from the "follow" that the rain does after the thunder? I mean, the rain doesn't "track" the thunder. Maybe that is why it is "intransitive" in the "a" case and not in the other one.

Now I will turn to my dictionary....

• ...knew I should have looked up "seguir" first! I really shouldn't think out loud. With the "a", "seguir (en el tiempo)" is transitive!! - Janice Aug 17, 2009

Answer 4

Reading Lazarus response, I wondered why my dictionary should show that "A". (I capitalize it here on purpose because, indeed, what is shown is a very small capital A).

In other words, I was finding it difficult to square the dictionary entry:

seguir vt (en el tiempo) to follow; ~ A (remember, this A is very little) algo/algn to follow sth/sb; los disturbios que siguieron a la manifestación

with the possibility offered in Lazarus' response to say that the thunder followed the storm: "El trueno siguió la tormenta." -- no "a"!

However, I had also noticed that the preposition "de" is sometimes written "DE" (again, small) to go with a verb and other times not. Nor is the "a" always written as a little capital. Sometimes I see "a".

So perhaps the dictionary is indicating to me with the little capital "A", that whether or not I am to use it depends. Unfortunately it does not tell me what it depends on!

Perhaps Lazarus answer has done that now. I guess I cannot ask that the dictionary also be a grammar reference. (...Uh oh...I still haven't ordered a grammar text....I had better stop posting until I do that!)

Whew...