Is ir and ir a the same? Or are they different?
¡Hola amigos! I'm a beginner in Spanish, I've just started recently, and I have this question that keeps bugging me. Please please please comment your answer to my question below it really helps me a ton. Okay so, I learned that "ir" means "to go", right? So does "ir a" means "to go" too? Are they the same? It's confusing me. I found out that "a" means "to". So does "ir a" means "to go to" while "ir" means "to go"? How do I use it in sentences? Example: Quiero ir a la tienda. Quiero ir la tienda. Which is correct? Or are they both correct? Thanks a ton for answering. ¡Muchas gracias!
2 Answers
Ir means to go. Ir a generally means to go to. It definitely does when followed by a place.
Ir can at times be combined with other prepositions, sometimes with idiomatic uses.
But for a beginner:
Quiero ir la tienda. I want to go the store. Wrong in both languages.
Quiero ir a la tienda. I want to go to the store. Correct in both languages.
"a" means "to". I also can mean other things as well.
When you go to the store, you can say, "(yo) Voy a la tienda." I go to the store.
Now there is what is called a "near future" tense which in English goes like. "I am going to study now.
In Spanish you say, "Voy a estudiar ahora" Here the "a" doesn't mean anything in English, but it has to be there. The English "to" is contained within the infinitive "estudiar."
So when you are actually going to some place, the "a" means "to" Don't forget that it contracts with the masculine article "el" so when you are going to the movies, you say, "Voy al cine."
Spanish also has an expression like the English "going to go"
Voy a ir a mi clase de español mañana. I'm going to go to my Spanish class tomorrow.
