having trouble with certain constructions

Question

Fluencia had the phrase

I like to go shipping

The Spanish translation was: Me gusta ir de compras

Why is it "ir de compras" instead of "ir a compras" or just "ir compras"

It's just the way it is said in Spanish. - annierats, Jul 24, 2015

Annie, tu respuesta merece un voto - 005faa61, Jul 24, 2015

Until I saw the Spanish, I wondered what it meant to "go shipping". ;) - bosquederoble, Jul 24, 2015

I wondered the same thing, Bosque. - rac1, Jul 24, 2015

But I agree with Julian, I don't think anyone will be able to give a better answer than Annie's. It is how it is. :) - bosquederoble, Jul 24, 2015

I guess whawt I was really asking was whe is the "de" uesd, not why. I did not state my question very clearly. - lfayb, Jul 24, 2015

@bosque: Checkk out my answer. - Daniela2041, Jul 25, 2015

Answer 1

The construcction IR DE ......... is used generaly to say, to go to diferents places to do the action that it puts after of it ,or the thing that it uses to do in a certain place ,when it puts a place instead an action . for example: Ir the compras means to go to diferents shops to by. Ir de bares means to go to diferents bars to drink. If you say ir a los bares you only are saying to go to the bars. No more. You can say too ir de copas. You are saying go to diferent places to drink. It can have another uses but in your example this is the reasson of put De instead A.

yo voy a la tienda= I go to the shop. Yo voy de tiendas(places)=yo voy de compras (actions)=yo voy a varias tiendas a comprar= i'm going shoping

I hope to be usefull. Please correct my english i know it is necesary

Answer 2

In Spanish, ir a + destination is commonly used: ir a la playa, ir al cine.

Less common is ir de + destination: ir de compras, ir de copas, ir de juerga.

In ir de compras, the word compras is the plural noun for purchases, not the second-person singular, present tense, of comprar.

At least, that's how it was explained to me.

I am still a bit confused about "ir de" vs "ir a" + destination, fluencia counted "ir a" as wrong as said it was "ir de" - lfayb, Jul 24, 2015

Answer 3

Ir de excursion "to go on a hike"

Ir de compras "to go shopping"

Ir de pesca "to go fishing"

Ir de vacaciones "to go on vacation"

There's even a bunch that use "Ir+en"

Ir en auto, en autobús, en barco, en avión,etc to go by car, bus, boat, plane etc.

There are a few more of these "ir+de" constructions which I can't think of right now. Just think of them as "stock expressions" or an "idiomatic expressions: which must be memorized. All languages have these inconsistencies and expressions which seem illogical.

So , this use of 'de' is only for after "ir" , is that correct? So if you forget when to use the "de" or use it in other cases, how how big of a miskake is it to omit it t. Hopefully it is a minor thing and other wil still understand ? - lfayb, Jul 25, 2015