Why is the Spanish 'a' used in this sentance

Question

I've been studying Spanish now for just over 3 months, and have many questions!

First I'm struggling to understand why 'a' is used at the beginning of the following sentence;

• A la niña no le gustan las zanahorias

Up to now I thought that 'a' was placed after a verb when the sentence involves 2 persons interacting, so I now when I say 'The man loves his son' I instinctively translate it as;

• El hombre quiere a su hijo

So I don't understand why in the first sentence the 'a' has been used at all, and why it has been been shifted to the beginning, why is it not placed after the verb 'gustan'?

Any help is much appreciated!

Answer 1

Great question!

The reason we use this is for emphasis, as you may/may not know the sentence is literally saying : "To the little girl, the carrots are not pleasing (to her).

Since we always use "gustar" with indirect object pronouns (something you will learn later on), we usually use emphasis on who we are taking about because the 3rd person indirect object pronoun has no gender demeaner to it.

For example.

Le dije que quieo un coche. (I told her that I want a car.) ^In this sentence, le is the 3rd person I/O pronoun, but without emphasis le can signify he she, it, my mom, my dad, or anything that fits in the 3rd person singular. We wouldn't know unless the speaker gives emphasis/context, or unless the I/O was already stated recently (in conversation.)

A mi mama le dije que quiero un coche. (I said to my mom (to her) that I want a car. OR To my mom I said (to her) that I want a car) Now we introduce emphasis (a mi mama) literally saying to her (a ella) hence why we use "a." It signifies to whom the object is directed without sounding "vague." It just gives more detail.

Hope this clears it up a little for you.

Hi BradyLabuda - Thanks for the quick reply! I think I'm beginning to understand! So 'A' in the first sentence is actually the word 'to'? So is the 'a' in the second sentence just a different rule, because it can't possibly translate as 'to'? - Dnallov, Mar 18, 2012

Is the rule I stated for the second sentence 'a' right? - Dnallov, Mar 18, 2012

Yes- in that case (second sentence) the "a" is not directly translated; we call it the "personal a" (look at Don_Jose's link) :-) - BradyLabuda, Mar 18, 2012

Brilliant - ¡Gracias! - Dnallov, Mar 18, 2012

Answer 2

Bradys answer is helpful. This link provides a more comprehensive explanation of the personal "a" in Spanish.

The personal "a"

Thanks for the link, even I can learn about Spanish grammar with that website. It's pretty good! - -cae-, Mar 18, 2012

Answer 3

There are some spanish verbs that are conjugated in a different way : they use indirect object pronouns.( gustar is normaly translated as" to like", but it means someting like "it pleases me"). The ones that I know are:

• bastar= to be enough
• cansar= to tire
• doler= to hurt
• encantar= to love
• faltar= to be missing
• fascinar= to fascinate
• importar= to matter
• interesar= to interest
• molestar= to disturb
• preocupar= to worry

and they are conjugated like gustar.

• (A mí) me gusta
• (A ti) te gusta
• (A él) le gusta
• (A ella) le gusta
• (A usted) le gusta
• (A nosotros/-as) nos gusta
• (A vosotros/-as os) gusta
• (A ellos/-as ustedes) les gusta

There is one more point: a mí me + gusta (singular nouns and verbs); gustan (plural nouns) eg: me gusta el libro. me gustan los libros. me duele la cabeza. me duelen los dientes.

P.S: I've been studing Spanish for 3 months, too. y me encanta mucho el idioma.