"A" after oye and ve

Question

I wrote a sentence, "El chico oye su madre hablando." The professor inserted an "a" after "oye". My other sentence was "ve un bebé con su madre." The professor inserted an "a" after "ve" in that sentence too. Can anyone tell me why?

Thank you all. So many nuances to remember - warzone, Sep 1, 2013

Answer 1

Hello warzone,

The verbs "oír" and "ver" (and a huge amount of other verbs) work this way. When in English you say 'to hear someone', in Spanish you should say "oír a alguien". The same thing happens with "ver":

to see someone = ver a alguien.

These little differences between English and Spanish are very tricky. You will learn them little by little.

I hope this helps. Keep learning!

See Jubilado's answer about the personal a.

[Feel free to correct my English. Thank you] [Reinstate gringojrf]

I didn't know that myself! Thanks! - rodneyp, Aug 30, 2013

Answer 2

Here is a post I did some time ago. It may also help you understand the use:

The Use of the Personal a in Spanish

Very useful. I didn`t know that it was called 'the personal a'. Thank you. - 003492fc, Aug 31, 2013