Why an "A" before a name or prounn to begin a sentence-"A juan.......

Question

I am a little confused, I know about the personal A when a person follows a verb and i also know that "a" is also used to distinguish the object of sentence when there can be ambiguity. (Le veo a usted) but I have seen sentences that start-A ellos, A maria, A él, etc. Can someone explain this to me? Thanks

Answer 1

I'm sorry I am not very good at explaining things... the point is, you can change the order. There are many ways of saying the same sentence but changing the order. For example:

A su mamá la quiere Susana.

Susana quiere a su mamá

The personal a is also used in front of interrogative words like quién and cuánto.

¿A quién llamaste? Llamé a Juan

¿A cuántos invitaste? Invité a cuatro personas.

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for filling out your profile. You state your English level as "beginner", though you write very well. However, I'm not sure "there are" can be contracted into "there're - PeterRS, Feb 27, 2013

Also, the first sentence should be "I'm not very good AT explaining...." Which does not appear to be accurate. - PeterRS, Feb 27, 2013

If you're interested, here's a link to a list of standard contractions in English - http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/EnglishContractions.htm - PeterRS, Feb 27, 2013

Thank you!! - gartic, Feb 27, 2013

Answer 2

Rog is right, and Gartic makes it a little clearer. These "a" phrases are either added for emphasis or clarification of the IO pronoun. Example: "A mí me gustan los carros". The meaning is understood without the initial phrase, but it just emphasises the pronoun. It is a little confusing for English speakers, since this construction really has no direct translation.

In Gartic's example "le quiere Susana" would be understandable if there was context, but as a stand alone sentence you need to add the "a su mamá" to clarify the pronoun "le".

Answer 3

Hi,

It would help a lot if you´d provide a couple examples, but are you sure these,, or at least some of them, aren´t examples of the personal ¨A¨? That´s what they usually are. Clarifiers for indirect object pronouns that are about to follow.

A ellos las quiero mucho or A ellas les gustan manzanas???? Thanks - bfpsu, Feb 27, 2013

Answer 4

A ellos les gusta el fútbol , pero no les gusta el tenis.

In my naivety I thought that the "personal A " was in the first sentence

to correct any ambiguity about who we were talking about ; a él a ellos

a ella , a ellas , etc.

but in the second sentence it was not necessary

Very right, amigo! - Noetol, Feb 27, 2013