"Al irte" - Cuándo utilizar esta forma?
Hola! How can i translate "al irte"? Why to use this form and when? I saw it in this phrase: "Cuando al irte me dejaste tanta pena y tanto mal" Gracias!
3 Answers
Al before an infinitive normally means "upon" and I see it most often instead of cuando, so it also be translated as when. Here both are used.
When, upon leaving, you left me with so much pain and bad feelings.
Or, when you left me, I had so much pain and bad feelings. Note that I did some rewording to avoid using the word "left" twice in the sentence. The Spanish didn't have this problem since irte (left) and dejar (left) were different verbs.
This may not be the best translation in the world, you can wait for an improvement from a native...but the main point is that al before an infinitive usually means upon and can often substitute for cuando.
Here's a sentence from our dictionary when you look up "al"
Al decirle que tenía que ponerse a trabajar, Josué se enfadó mucho con su hermana. When she told him he needed to get to work, Josue got really mad at his sister.
You could have used "upon" instead of "when" is the sentence above but it would sound sort of formal. (Upon telling him that he ....) (Note that if you use upon you would eliminated the "she" and modify the verb as well. It is a rather formal, stuffy way of writing or speaking. At least to these American ears. 
Just be careful...this only applies when "al" is followed by an infinitive. 90% of the time "al" will be translated a "to the" It is a contraction of "a el" which, unlike most (or all?) English contractions is obligatory in Spanish. You can never say "a el" when it means "to the." "a él" (to him) IS permitted and CANNOT be contracted. This may be the main reason why "a el" must be converted to "al" to avoid the possibility of confusion when the two are spoken.
Al caminar por la calle debes mirar hacia adelante. (when, on or upon I guess))
Al hacer los deberes de la escuela debes tener mucho cuidado
Al contar dinero siempre presto mucha atención.
Al cantar en la ducha siempre me siento feliz.
Al ir mañana al trabajo, tomaré un taxi.
Al preparar la cena ayer estaba lloviendo a cántaros.
The other way around is possible too.
Example:
Estaba lloviendo a cántaros ayer al preparar la cena.
The only thing that you don't know and don't say is WHO is performing the action because it could be: When I/you/he/ they etc fixed (or was fixing) dinner it was raining cats and dogs..
Please help me improve my English. Correct me.
I agree with the other answers, so I will just add that a good way to understand this is that, ie: Al irte is the same as Al momento de irte. If you think of it this way, you will understand that in this sentence structure cuando will never work because it is in effect redundant.
