Use 'a' before infinitive redundant or okay?

Question

Long question short: can you use a before an infinitive?

---

Simple exercise, just rewriting sentences:

Ejemplo: yo / alegrarse de / ustedes / gustar cocinar Me alegro de que a ustedes les guste cocinar. ( they give this example)

Alejandra / querer / ustedes / aprender a / cocinar / plato típico mexicano Alejandra quiere que ustedes aprendan a cocinar plato típico mexicano. (I have a feeling I might be wrong)

So my confusion is from "aprender a/ cocinar" Saying aprendan a cocinar just seems redundant because of the 'a' before 'cocinar' since the translation is 'to to cook.' Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

Welcome to SpanishDict. Please complete your profile as it relates to language. Thanks. - rac1, Jul 5, 2014

my apologies, I think I've updated it now. - Baspanish, Jul 5, 2014

Lots of verbs are followed by a prepositon eg asistir a and aprender a There are lists in many places but try to learn as a phrase - Mardle, Jul 5, 2014

Ah, so if it is built into the phrase then it actually isn't 'redundant' as I thought? - Baspanish, Jul 5, 2014

Answer 1

I am curious to know as well. Anyone?

I found this doing a search. Perhaps it will help.

a before infinitive

I read through it and it makes more sense! Some things just don't translate literally but once you understand the exceptions it is much easier. - Baspanish, Jul 5, 2014

Still you don't need to know those concept, yet.... :) - chileno, Jul 5, 2014

Answer 2

Any answers given by Lazarus are brilliant. Here are two sites with lists.

Jehle

sampson

I told you asistir is followed by 'a' but this is before a noun.I learned that one by emailing my teacher several times to explain why I could not or did not attend class.A few weeks ago we revised verbs plus prepositions -aprender a is to learn how to

Very good, thanks for the addition. :) - rac1, Jul 5, 2014

Answer 3

Sometimes you just have to face the fact that you can't compare your native language to a language that you are learning. It may seem very redundant when you look at it from the perspective of English and try to perform a word for word translation, but it is perfectly normal to use some type of preposition after an infinitive in Spanish. It is very important to learn the infinitives that follow each verb in Spanish. In some cases a verb can be followed by several different prepositions, each meaning something different.