"A" between verbs

Question

why is there not an "A" between these verbs. decidieron hacer un viaje. Is there a rule for when you do or is this an idiom /expression. thank you

Welcome to SpanishDict. We ask that all new members complete their profiles with their native language, and what level of Spanish you feel you are, like, beginner, intermediate, etc. as well as gender. - ray76, Sep 27, 2016

Answer 1

I agree with Daniela except for this part:

It is completely idiomatic

The use of prepositions following verbs in Spanish is not idiomatic at all, this is simply how the language is. Preposition usage is a problem to learn in most languages and has to be memorized. Spanish is easy compared to Russian where the verbs are conjugated for not only time and person but for Russian's six laborious cases. How to conjugate prepositions has to be memorized as well and there are considerably more variations of necessary conjugations than probably most other languages. So rest assured that with minimal memorization, you will use Spanish prepositions easily.

Hmmmmmmm. We probably have different ideas of what "idiomatic" is. - Daniela2041, Sep 28, 2016

"¿Qué onda, Carnal?" This is idiomatic. The usage of "a" with prepositions has no rules, but there is a correct way and incorrect way depending on if the "a" is a requirement or not. - 005faa61, Sep 28, 2016

Answer 2

There is no rule. It is completely idiomatic: Some verbs require "a" in all situations, like "asistir a" to attend.

Asisto a todos los conciertos de José Feliciano. I attend all José Feliciano's concerts.

Asisto a la escuela. I attend school.

There are other verbs which require "a" only if an infinitive follows.

Marta comienza a hablar. Martha is beginning to speak.

Some require "de" before an infinitive, like "dejar de" To stop doing something.

"Acordarse de" ---to remember. No me acuerdo de la lección de álgebra. --I don't remember the algebra lesson.

There are others that require "en" , "con", "por" and maybe one or two others.

Fortunately, most verbs do not require a preposition following. Most good text books will introduce the ones that require them a few at a time so you won't be overwhelmed. I think that there aren't more than 20-or 30 that are in current use. You can probably Google "Spanish verbs requiring a preposition" and come up with all of them.

Here's a link to the 25 most popular ones. It is preceeded by a list of verbs that do not require prepositions.

Link to verbs with prepositions

Buena suerte.