To go to (Ir a) /To come from (Venir de)

We are going to see how these prepositions (a, de) work  in this case.

"To go to" becomes in Spanish "ir a"
"To come from" becomes in Spanish "venir de"

ir= to go
venir= to come

Now let's see how we build sentences using these verbs and prepositions:

(Yo) voy a Madrid = I am going to Madrid
(El) va a la escuela = He is going to the school.

(Ella) viene de Madrid = She comes from Madrid
(Nosotros)  venimos de la escuela = we come from the school

VERY IMPORTANT REMARK:

a la escuela (when the noun is feminine, in this case "escuela")
al colegio (college) (when the noun is masculine. Remark this "al" : It is a contraction of  "a + el".  Carlos va a el colegio becomes "Carlos va al
colegio.

The same occurs with "del". It is a contraction of "de + el". Carmen viene de el banco becomes "Carmen viene del banco."

We use these elements contracted when they come before an article and a noun: yo voy a EL COLEGIO. We say then : Yo voy AL COLEGIO.

PRACTICE

feminine nouns with article: a la (to)
masculine nouns with article: al (to)

feminine nouns with article: de la (from)
masculine nouns with article: del (from)

Some examples:

Hoy Carlos va al banco (to the bank) Banco is a masculine noun.

Hoy Carlos va a la tienda (to the shop). Tienda is a feminine noun.

Carlos viene ahora del banco.
Carlos va ahora al banco.

If we don´t use any article, we will not use "al" or "del".

Examples:  María va a Barcelona . Antonio va a trabajar (to work) but Antonio va al trabajo (to his work or place of work) Trabajo is a masculine noun, therefore we use "al" and "del". Antonio viene del trabajo.

Yo voy a Barcelona. But: Yo voy a la ciudad de Barcelona. El va al río (to the river, masculine noun in Spanish) El va al Duero (al río Duero).

Try to fill in the following blank spaces: de, de la , del, de las, de los a, a la, al, a las, a los

Rosa viene ........ estudio de televisión. Estudio: masculine noun
Miguel va ....... campo de fútbol. Campo: masculine noun
Mario va ....... estudiar . Estudiar: Verb, first declination
Sergio y María van ....... hospital. Hospital: masculine noun
Los profesores vienen .......... conferencia. Conferencia: feminine noun
Los alumnos van ....... viajar. Viajar: Verb, first declination
Mañana nosotros iremos ........ río Duero de excursión. Río: masculine noun.
Belén va ....... bancos para cambiar euros. Bancos: masculine noun, plural.
Los niños vienen ...... tiendas. Tiendas: feminine noun, plural.

ANSWERS:

del
al
a
al
de la
a
al
a los
de las