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KS2 · Spanish · Year 6

A trip to Barcelona: 'voy', 'vas' and 'estás' with 'en', 'al' and 'a la'

Cities and festivals: to go, to have, present tense

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Your learning goal

I can use the verbs ‘ir’ and ‘estar’ followed by the correct preposition to describe a trip to Barcelona.

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A trip to Barcelona: 'voy', 'vas' and 'estás' with 'en', 'al' and 'a la': slides adapted from the imported teaching text; recall questions created from its keywords, learning points and common mistakes. Self-check practice, with no automatic grading or XP. Answers stay on this page and are cleared when you leave.

Original teaching resources

The original illustrated PowerPoint is available as well as the IllumED text slides. It retains the publisher’s design and credits.

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What you’ll learn

I can use the verbs ‘ir’ and ‘estar’ followed by the correct preposition to describe a trip to Barcelona.

Key learning points

  • The sound-spelling correspondences [r] and [rr] are pronounced differently: [r] as in ‘armario’ and [rr] as in ‘perro’.
  • The irregular verb ‘ir’ means ‘to go, going’. To say 'I go, I’m going' use 'voy'. 'You go, you’re going' is 'vas'.
  • With 'ir', use 'al' or 'a la' to say 'to the' depending on whether the following noun is masculine or feminine.
  • When 'estar' is used for location it is often followed by the preposition 'en'; this can mean 'in', 'on' or 'at'.

Words to know

voy
'I go, I’m going' - part of the verb ‘ir’ meaning ‘to go, going’
vas
'you go, you’re going' - part of the verb ‘ir’ meaning ‘to go, going’
al
'to the' before a singular masculine noun
a la
'to the' before a singular feminine noun
en
'in', 'on' or 'at', used after the verb 'estar'

Common mistakes

'Estar' can be followed by 'en' or 'a'.

The preposition 'en' is generally used with 'estar' and can mean 'in', 'on' or 'at'. The preposition 'a' is generally used with the verb 'ir'.

For parents, carers and teachers
  • This lesson provides a good opportunity to extend pupils' cultural knowledge about the city of Barcelona. There are lots of excellent websites showing the different historical and modern aspects of the city. It is also an opportunity to revise known vocabulary e.g. 'museo', 'parque', 'mercado' etc.
IllumED Slides adapts “A trip to Barcelona: 'voy', 'vas' and 'estás' with 'en', 'al' and 'a la'”, Spanish, by Oak National Academy ↗. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Slides and recall practice adapted by IlluminatED; no publisher endorsement. Restricted lessons have listing information only.