The Personal 'a'

Consider the following sentences:

Él ví la Montana.
Él ví a Isabel.

How should they be translated? The first one is easy, "He saw the mountain." The second one is a bit more difficult. It looks like, "He saw Isabel," but what is the "a" there for? The reason is a small but important rule in Spanish known as the "personal 'a' rule."

While it may not appear to be necessary, the second sentence needs to have an "a" before "Isabel." Why? Because two conditions are true:

One, Isabel is a person. OK, that's easy enough.

Two, Isabel is a direct object. OK, what's a direct object?

You'll learn more about objects later, but what you need to know now is that a direct object answers "who?" or "what?" receives the action of the verb in the sentence. To figure that out, simply read the sentence, stop after the verb, and ask yourself "who?" or "what?" He saw… who? He saw Isabel. "Isabel" answers the question, "who?" so therefore she is a direct object.

So we need to include a personal "a" in front of a direct object if that direct object is a person. The "a" does not get translated into English.

Let's practice a little, shall we? If we translated these sentences, which ones would need a personal "a" and where would it go?

She drives a car.
They know my bothers.
We practice with the twins.
I love my mother

In the first sentence, "car" is a direct object, but it is not a person, therefore no personal "a" is necessary. In the second sentence, "brothers" is the direct object and "brothers" are people so we should use a personal "a." In the third sentence, "twins" are people, but they are not a direct object because they don't answer "who?" or "what?" ("Twins" is actually part of a prepositional phrase that starts with the preposition "with.") In the last sentence, "mother" is a direct object and a person. In Spanish, these sentences should look like:

Ella conduce un coche.
Ellos conocen a mis hermanos.
Nosotros practicábamos con los gemelos.
Yo amo a mi madre.

When pronouns like alguien, nadie, quién and alguno and ninguno refer to people, a personal "a" is used. Some examples:

No oigo a nadie.
¿Maestros? No veo a ninguno.

Exceptions

Pets

Even though they are not people, a personal "a" is sometimes used before pets, especially if that pet is a beloved member of the family.

Yo amo a mi perro.

Personified Objects

Sometimes things (especially countries) are treated as if they were people to show an emotional connection and therefore a personal "a" would be used.

Susana extraña mucho a Nicaragua.

Tener

Even in a sentence with a direct object who is a person, we typically do not use a personal "a" after the verb "tener."

Yo tengo dos hermanos.

However, at times, when we used tener in a sense of "to hold" or "to have in a specific place" we will use a personal "a."

Por fin, ella tenía a su nieto en los brazos.
Yo tengo a mi hija en la cama.

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