5.4 El verbo Ir y las contracciones

El verbo Ir  (The verb to go)

The verb ir is used to express destinations and will need a preposition to follow it. Add the preposition a after ir to indicate a destination (where you are going to) and the preposition de after venir.

• No voy a la fiesta esta noche porque tengo que estudiar. (I’m not going to the party tonight, because I have to study.)
• Ellos van a la iglesia todos los domingos. (They go to church every Sunday.)
• El tren va de Lima a Huancayo solamente los lunes. (The train only goes from Lima to Huancayo on Mondays.)

Like the verb ser, the conjugation of ir in the present tense is irregular:

Ir (to go)

Singular	Plural
yo voy	nosotros vamos
tú vas	vosotros vais
él / ella / usted va	ellos / ellas / ustedes van

Contracciones (Contractions)

Here are two contractions that are frequently used with ir and other verbs of motion.

a + el = al (to the)
de + el = del (from the)

Be careful, the prepositions a and de only contract with the masculine singular definite article; if you need the feminine or plural form of “the”, it will remain a separate word.

• Vamos al parque con el perro. (We go to the park with the dog.)
• Vamos a los negocios locales. (We go to the local businesses.)
•          Voy a la tienda. (I go to the store.)
•          Voy a las clases de lengua y arte. (I go to language and art classes.)
• Los científicos vienen del Instituto de Salud Pública. (The scientists come from the Institute of Public Health.)
•         Los científicos vienen de los laboratorios. (The scientists come from the labs.)
• Los maestros vienen de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. (The teachers come from the Complutense University of Madrid.)
•        Los maestros vienen de las clases de español. (The teachers come from the Spanish classes.)

¿Cuándo? (When?)

The interrogative (question word) cuándo means “when.”

• ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños? (When is your birthday?)

Unlike some interrogatives, ‘cuándo‘ does not change for gender and number. However, you do need to pay attention to the difference between the question word cuándo—with an accent mark—and the conjunction cuando (no accent mark).

• ¿Cuándo vamos a salir? (When are we going out?)
• Cuando tengamos tiempo. (When we have time. Note: tener here is in the subjunctive, which you’ll learn later…)