This article is a comprehensive guide to the Spanish personal a.
In Spanish the word "a" is inserted in front of any direct object that is a person. Whenever this is done in Spanish this is known as the personal a.
What does the word "a" normally mean in Spanish?
The Spanish word a usually means "to" (e.g. "a Madrid" means "to Madrid" and "a Ignacio" means "to Ignacio"). Nothing in this article affects this as such.
How does the personal "a" in Spanish differ?
Despite the Spanish word a usually meaning of "to", the personal a has no real meaning in English.
In short, the Spanish word a is inserted in Spanish sentences immediately before a direct object that is a person (or a pet*). You must therefore have an understanding of what a direct object is (and what it is not).
What is a direct object in Spanish?
Most sentences in Spanish have a direct object.
The Spanish direct object is often also one in English sentences.
A good starting point to understanding what a direct object is by learning the difference between a subject and a direct object. The following may appear complicated on first glance, but a guide is:
- The subject of a sentence is the person or thing doing the action (e.g. the person doing who sees, who eats, who reads, etc.).
- The direct object of a sentence is the person or thing (if any*) which is directly acted upon* (e.g. the thing or person being seen, the thing being eaten, the thing being read etc.)
*Note: Not all sentences however have a direct object. Most movement verbs, for example, do not have a direct object (e.g. go, arrive, etc). Also objects after a preposition (e.g. with, without, for, etc.) are not direct objects. They are prepositional nouns. Prepositional objects are discussed further below in light of the Spanish personal a.
Examples of direct objects
The theory on what is a direct object on first glance appears complicated. Looking at some examples usually helps however. See the following examples where the subject and the direct object are explained:
- I see John.
- "I" is the subject, as "I" is the one doing the action of seeing
- "John" is the direct object, as he is the one being seen (i.e. the direct object of the verb)
- John reads the newspaper.
- "John" is the subject, as he is the one doing the action of reading
- "newspaper" is the direct object, as it is the thing being read (i.e. the direct object of the verb)
- The man talks Spanish.
- The "man" is the subject, as he is the one doing the action of talking
- "Spanish" is the direct object, as it is the thing being talked (i.e. the direct object of the verb).
- She hears the dog.
- "She" is the subject, as this is the one doing the action of hearing
- "the dog" is the direct object, as it is the thing being heard (i.e. the direct object of the verb).
As you will see from the above in English usually the subject is at the start of the sentence and the direct object then usually follows.
Prepositional nouns are not direct objects
Examples of Spanish prepositions are:
- a (to)
- de (of/from)
- en (in/at/on)
- con (with)
- para (for)
- sin (without)
Please note that if the noun you are looking at is immediately after a preposition you are not dealing with a direct object.
Nouns after a preposition are normally classified as prepositional nouns, rather than direct objects. The personal a is not placed in front of a prepositional object, for example:
- Hablo con el hombre = I speak with the man.
No personal a is inserted in the example above, because there is no direct object in the sentence above. Instead the object that follows (i.e. the man) is a prepositional object.
Why is it important to identify what is a direct object?
The reason why identifying what is and what is not a personal a in this context is in Spanish you must always put the word "a" immediately in front of a direct object of a sentence when it is a person.
In the following Spanish sentences the word a has been inserted, because the direct object of those sentences are people:
- Veo a Juan = I see Juan.
- Admiran a María = They admire Maria.
The "a" is showing that the direct object of the sentence is a person, rather than a thing. The "a" word however has no meaning in English in this context.
The personal "a" is never used for things even when it is the direct object, for example:
- Leo el libro = I read the book.
- Hablan español = They speak Spanish.
Note that the personal 'a' is however not used when the person is not being referred to as person as such, but more like in the sense of "any" for example:
- Necesito un médico = I need a doctor.
In the above sentence is the speaker is not referring to any particular doctor. In essence “a doctor” is being treated like a thing rather than a person. The speaker just wants any doctor. If the person however wanted a particular doctor, the personal "a" would however be used:
- Necesito al* médico = I need the doctor.
- Necesito a mi médico = I need my doctor.
*Note: a + el = al
What about direct objects that are animals?
- When an animal is the direct object of a sentence you usually do not normally use the personal "a", as the personal a is for people (hence its name the personal a).
The modern tendency however is to insert "a" in front of direct objects that are animals to show that you are treating them as individuals (i.e. in the same way as individual people). Consider the following example:
- Veo a mi perro = I see my dog.
Here the speaker is treating the dog as an individual, rather than as a generic dog. It is therefore common to insert a where the direct object animal is a pet and to drop it where the speaker considers the animal is a generic animal:
- Veo un perro = I see a dog.
- Miran el gato = They watch the cat.
Using the personal a with the verbs ser, estar, tener and haber
Regardless of the above, do not insert the personal a in front of the objects of any forms of the verbs ser (to be), estar (to be), haber (to have*) or tener (to have):
- Es médico = He is a doctor.
- Tienes una hermana = You have a sister.
- Hay un hombre. = There is a man.
- Había un hombre. = There was a man.
*Note: This includes the equivalent forms of haber in whatever tense (e.g. hay = there is/there are)
Spanish Language Tuition
Hopefully this article has helped you to understand how the Spanish personal a words. To improve your Spanish further why not do Spanish tuition with a tutor? To get in contact click here or for more details on Spanish Language Tuition offered please click here.