Spanish language Q&A Forum

i read from one of the question asked before in one of the grammar lesson, and it is confirmed that llamar is a transitive verb and takes direct object but comes with a preposition A because it is personal a. llamar + a + alguien.

But then i also came across llamar a la puerta for example. why is there a preposition A?

or did i get it wrong that it is not personal A but a fixed expression with llamar + a + any direct objects?

voy a llamar a Juan = voy a llamarlo, voy a llamar a la puerta = voy a llamarla.

But i did come across sentences that do not use preposition a for llamar.

le llamo idiota a juan  - i called juan idiot. is this correct?

Other than calling people directly like telephoning or shouting for them, we can also call them names. is this where there wont be preposition A?

sorry for my errors as i am still not familiar with using the llamar verb.

would this sentence be more suitable to be translated to i almost did not reach on time for my appointment, rather than i almost missed my appointment?

Casi no llego a mi cita a tiempo. No he escuchado el despertador esta mañana.I almost missed my appointment. I didn't hear the alarm this morning.

May i check if the sentence should be 

En el concierto el sábado ....

rather than the below where de is used? from my understanding, i thought there isnt a word for the equivalent of on in spanish for days of the week.

En el concierto del sábado casi nos desmayamos al ver a Ariana Grande.

hi, can i check if the following statements are correct responses to the first statement that ´A micheal no le gusta el arroz´ ?

A micheal no le gusta el arroz.

- A Javier tampoco le gusta el arroz.

- A Javier no le gusta tampoco el arroz.

- A Javier no le gusta el arroz tampoco.

Thanks

It might be worth mentioning in Kwiziq's lesson Ya sea/ya fuera... o... to express whether... or... - [number 8284] that verbs [usually?] take the subjunctive when they are governed directly by "ya sea (que)..."

I should’ve said  “Podía ver.. vs veía, do they mean the same thing. Gracias, Shirley. 

Here we learn 'estar por llover'

It's only a couple of weeks since I learned 'estar para llover' and I can't tell the difference.

¿Por qué usa "de" con la frase tomar de postre en lugar de "como" o "por"?