a la niña, al niño...

Question

Why do you have to put "A" before "la niña" ? For example, " A la niña no le gusta jugo". Can't you just leave "A" out? "al niño le gusta el futbol" same thing, why al ???

Answer 1

HI Jever, look at Moe¡s wonderful reference article about this topic. We call this the personal "a" and you can't leave it out.

Welcome to the forum

thanks!!! that was very helpful :) - jever, ENE 12, 2010

Answer 2

Yes I think it is alright to say el niño le gusta el fútbol.

Oops, looks like the dunces corner for me this time. - kenwilliams, ENE 12, 2010

Hahaha - hithere3387, ENE 12, 2010

Answer 3

"al" is a contraction for the words "a" and "el." Both forms of this sentence begin with "a," but because the word "niño" is masculine, an "el" precedes it as opposed to a "la" for the word "niña," which is feminine.