Why is it "voy a ir" but "quiero ir"?
"I am going to see" or "I want to see"
Why is there sometimes the letter "a" and not others?
2 Answers
"Ir a + infinitive" and "querer +infinitive" are examples of "verbal periphrasis" which is a fancy way of saying "a phrase made of two verbs, plus sometimes a preposition, that taken as a whole function as one verb."
There are many examples of this besides those two:
"Estar +gerund ('-ando' or '-iendo' verb)" which means to be in the process of doing something, kind of like 'I am dancing' in English.
"Soler + infinitive" Which means "to be in the habit of doing something" or in the past tense, "used to do something"
This is a link that explains this more in-depth: Verbal Periphrasis Note that although "Querer + infinitive" is not on their list, it is in fact part of this group. Also note that in their list, the gerund is also called the "present participle". They still mean the same thing I do.
All this to say, there really is not a specific reason that there is an 'a' in "voy a ir" and none in "quiero ir". It's an idiomatic rule that is part of the grammar of the language. As you will see in that link, there are many combinations of verbs and prepositions, some of which make sense, and some of which don't seem to. In general, though, 'a' indicates a move in a certain direction, as in "voy a ir", "i am going to go" while when you want to do something, there is no movement, even if the thing you want to do is precisely that: to go!
Hola Pumpkin y viejito. Gracias! Ustedes son imponentes! That is a new word for me, and I hope it means awesome!
