She does not like football

Question

A ella no le gusta el futbol

Why does the sentence start with the preposition "A"?

and is there a rule that calls for an "el" even though "the" is silent in the sentence?

Welcome to the forum. - rac1, Oct 8, 2013

The answer from jlwilso is the best for the use of "a". Sometimes in Spanish "the" is used but not in English: I like soccer (not the soccer) but Me gusta el fútbol. - Jubilado, Oct 9, 2013

Answer 1

I wasn't going to answer this question for lack of Spanish knowledge, but you have waited so long and I recognize a Rosetta Stone (RS) lesson when I see one. I had to look it up in a grammar book and this is what I found. "Gustar ( "to please", "to be pleasing to") and a few other Spanish verbs use indirect objects to express the subjects of their English counterparts.

The indirect object pronoun may be preceded by the preposition a+ the indirect object noun or the prepositional pronoun that corresponds to the indirect object pronoun for stress or clarification:

A Elena le toca poner la mesa./ It's Elena turn to set the table.

A mí me faltan cien dólares./ I need one hundred dollars.

Rosetta Stone is hard because if you have a question, it does not provide an answer. If you remember in the core lesson for this unit, it started off by introducing the sports using the articles.

El niño juega al fútbol./ The boy plays soccer.

RS introduces these ideas to get you used to writing in Spanish. It helps if you just practice the lessons without questioning why. It is very difficult, I know. That is why I don't use RS as my primary way to learn Spanish. That is also how I found this site. I used to use the translator to translate the sentences from RS during each core lesson.

Edit: More common verbs that follow this rule.

aburrir- to bore

agradar- to please, to be pleased with

bastar- to be enough

caer bien- to like

convenir- to be suitable, to be convenient

disgustar- to upset, to displease

doler- to be painful

encantar- to adore

entusiasmar- to enthuse, to love

faltar- to lack, to need

fascinar- to fascinate

fastidiar- to annoy, to bother

hacer daño- to harm

importar- to be important

interesar- to interest

molestar- to bother

parecer- to seem

quedar- to remain to someone, to have left

sentar bien- to appreciate

sentar mal- to upset

sobrar- to be left over

sorprender- to surprise

tocar- to be one's turn

Awesome Wilson. - ray76, Oct 9, 2013

Ditto! - Jubilado, Oct 9, 2013

Answer 2

A ella no le gusta el fútbol , pero le gusta David Beckham.

Answer 3

It is known as the personal a, this preposition is used to precede direct objects when those objects are people. In your sentence though I believe the a is incorrect because the DO is fútbol and ella is the subject (I think), and there is a rule for the use of prepositions before certain nouns but unfortunately I don't know what it is. Keep in mind "the" which you say is silent in the sentence is only silent in English. Don't try to translate sentences word for word,

Spanish and yet I see many examples where the pronoun is not included in the Spanish. Very confusing. - arturozx, Oct 8, 2013

I appreciate your response but I thought the personal A was only confined to like family members. Otherwise an A would be necessary before every El, ella, or whatever. And know that what is probably true about words being silent in English but not in - arturozx, Oct 8, 2013