Is this a typo or am I misunderstanding?
2
votes
According to this site, the Spanish equivalent of "the early bird gets the worm" is:
"al que madruga, Dios le ayuda"
Shouldn't it be,
"la que madruga, Dios le ayuda"?
1232 views
updated Aug 26, 2013
posted by SlimNm
3 Answers
3
votes
"al" is correct.
"he who ..."
a el = al
edit: (el does not have an accent)
updated Aug 26, 2013
edited by chileno
posted by chileno
Well I learned something new! I didn't know that "a él" could be shortened to "al." Is it personal preference or are there cases in which one must use one or the other? - SlimNm, Aug 25, 2013
It's every time a comes before el and it's not optional, it becomes al. - annierats, Aug 25, 2013
It is called a "contraction", de +el del ;) - chileno, Aug 25, 2013
I thought that if 'el' meant 'he', it must be written with an accent? - SlimNm, Aug 26, 2013
Correct. él = he/him el = the - chileno, Aug 26, 2013
1
vote
Shirley it is only 'al que' due to the second clause containing 'Dios le ayuda'.
El/la que madruga is perfectly correct for he/she who gets up early. Writing the above as 'Dios le ayuda al que madruga' makes it clearer to the questioner why al is used, as you help 'to' someone in Spanish rather than just help them.
I think...
updated Aug 26, 2013
posted by afowen
0
votes
Seems like you have not completed enough lessons. Keep working on them. Good luck!
updated Aug 25, 2013
edited by Raja-jani
posted by Raja-jani
