al verme

Question

Please explain 'al' in Mis amigos sintieron una gran alegría al verme.
Gracias,
Ricky

Answer

Hola Ricky,
We use "al" plus an infinitive as a way of saying "when something happened". In this case, with this sentence "Mis amigos sintieron una gran alegría al verme.", it is the same as saying "My friends felt really happy when they saw me.".
Here is a lesson about "al+infinitive". Note it is an advance class, though.
Also note: Al = contraction of a+el.
I hope it helps.
Un saludo
Inma

Answer

Thanks, Inma!

Answer

Hola.I searched for this lesson with "

Answer

Hola,I searched for the lesson you referred to in your reply above to Ricky: "competency id= "6175" but got no results in the search tab.  Is there a link?Gracias, Nicole

Answer

al = cuando: when

Answer

Sorry Nicole
We didn't realise back then we hadn't sent the link correctly - if you are still interested this is what we meant to send for "al + infinitive".
Inma

Answer

Hola Ana, Silvia, e Inma -I am wondering if it might be worth mentioning that the majority of verbs ending with "-e#ir" change the 'e' to 'i' in the 3rd person "pretérito indefinido" [where the # symbol denotes a consonant, or two consonants together, or even no consonant as with 'reír'] >> i.e., almost all of them follow the pattern "servir > sirvió, sirvieron"... and seguir > siguió, siguieron [note that 'gu' is effectively just a consonant with its silent u]I have come across only a few exceptions to that^ rule:namely, the three "-cer.nir" verbs: discernir, concernir, cernir(se)... the three "-ergir" ones: sumergir, convergir, divergir ... also agredir, transgredir and hendir - [e.g., the third person preterite becomes él discer.nió - not discirnió].Aguerrir, preterir and aterir are occasionally found as infinitives or as past participles; their other forms are hardly ever used.Saludos, David Mc