⇒ English has quite a lot of contractions (short forms of a word or group of words made by leaving out a sound or letter), such as can’t, we’ll, you’d, they’re, and you’ve.
⇒ Spanish, however, has only two!
⇒ When the prepositions a (to) or de (of or from) come before the definite article el, they combine with it to form a contraction.
| Word Matha + el = alde + el = del |
⇒ Normally, whenever a and el are together, you must contract them to al
⇒ However, if el is a capitalized part of a name, it does not contract to al when used with a.
⇒ For example:
| Correct Spanish | Incorrect Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| ¿Vas al hotel? | ¿Vas a el hotel? | Are you going to the hotel? |
| Vamos al restaurante allá. | Vamos a el restaurante allá. | We are going to the restaurant over there. |
| Se fueron a El Paso. | Se fueron al Paso. | They went to El Paso. |
⇒ Normally, whenever de and el are together, you must shorten them to del
⇒ However, if el is a capitalized part of a name, it does not contract to del when used with de.
⇒ Sound familiar? It should. It's the same rule you just learned for al!
⇒ Check out these examples of correct and incorrect sentences.
| Correct Spanish | Incorrect Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Esta es la clase del profesor. | Esta es la clase de el profesor. | This is the professor's class. |
| Soy del Reino Unido | Soy de el Reido Unido. | I'm from the United Kingdom. |
| Es de El Salvador. | Es del Salvador. | He's from El Salvador. |
⇒ EXCEPTION: Do not form contractions with the subject pronoun él or with any definite articles other than el.
⇒ Check out these examples of correct and incorrect sentences.
| Correct Spanish | Incorrect Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Es la casa de él | Es la casa dél. | It is his house. |
| Es el libro de la mujer bonita | Es el libro dela mujer bonita. | It is the pretty woman’s book. |
| Soy amiga de las hermanas de Anita. | Soy amiga delas hermanas de Anita. | I'm a friend of Anita’s sisters. |
| Son los juguetes de los niños. | Son los juguetes delos niños. | They are the children’s toys. |