Level 1

1. 1.1 Personalawhen used for persons (La preposiciónacon un complemento directo)

2. 1.2 Personalawhen used with collective nouns (La a con nombres colectivos)

3. 1.3 Personalawhen used with animals (La a con animales)

4. 1.4 Personalawhen used with proper names (La a con nombres propios)

5. 1.5 When personalais not used (Cuando no se usa la a)

Personal a when used for persons

In English, the distinction between a noun as subject and a noun as object is shown by its location in the sentence. In John reads the book, John is the subject and book is the object. John comes before book. In Latin, this was shown by what we call case endings; that is to say the endings of words changed according to their relationship with each other, and word order was not so important. In Spanish, and much more than in French or English, but similar to Italian, location has about as little effect on the meaning as in Latin. Many Spanish speakers can find themselves therefore in considerable difficulty in distinguishing between subject and object, and do not always succeed as clearly as we do in English or French.

The only device in Spanish for distinguishing a noun as direct object when referring to persons is by placing the preposition a before it.