Ir a tomar un café con Juan y María
A1 Spanish listening practice · Spanish · Curated for beginners
What is the difference between “adónde” and “dónde” in Spanish?
Spanish has two “where” questions. ¿Dónde? asks where something is (no movement): ¿dónde está mi café? (“where is my coffee?”). ¿Adónde? asks where someone is going: ¿adónde se fue? (“where did he go?”), as in this clip. The extra a in adónde carries the idea of “to,” the same a you use in voy a casa. So adónde always points toward a destination.
A simple test: if the answer needs “to” (to the café, to the house), use adónde. The clip asks ¿adónde se fue? about Juan and María, who both fueron por un café. With “to be” verbs like estar, stick with dónde: ¿dónde están? (“where are they?”).