"Adónde" or "Adonde", when movement is involved

David M.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

"Adónde" or "Adonde", when movement is involved

Like Ian, I am confused by some of the examples given here, in particular:

Iremos adonde tú quieras, cariño >> We will go where (to whichever restaurant) you want, darling...

... which does involve movement, but despite that it uses 'donde' - with no accent !


And in the short quiz included in this site, I got this question wrong:

We are taking the children to where they can run around freely > Llevamos a los niños ________ puedan corretear libremente…. i.e., I [incorrectly !] chose "adónde" with an accent because it did seem to involve movement … (but no ! - it had to be "adonde").


Asked 4 years ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hola David,

the presence or absence of the accent doesn't depend on the verb being a movement verb or not. The accent is used when it is an interrogative or exclamatory clause.  The answer was given to Hans in this same thread, if you scroll down you will see it, but I will copy what I said to Hans then:

"Yes, you can use all the forms with verbs that imply movement. But putting the accent or not will depend on the function of donde-adonde-adónde-dónde in the sentence in question. In the examples about "Manuel" in the lesson they both happen to be interrogative sentences so they both use the forms with the accents, but you could also say:

El lugar adonde va Manuel es un paraíso.

El lugar a donde va Manuel es un paraíso.

El lugar donde va Manuel es un paraíso.

(The place where Manuel is going is a paradise)"

I hope this helps

Inma

David M.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Thank you Inma, for explaining. I have to say, though [and as Hans implies] - it is not always going to be straightforward to decide whether (or not) we are working with an "interrogative clause" [> This is a grammatical term which I have not come across, before today !]… Both sentences seem to be associated with questions - namely: "Where are we going tonight?" [for dinner]", and "Where are we taking the children?"

Where can I view the examples which you quote about Manuel going to paradise? [both with and without the accent?]

I take your point that, for an accented form, we need to be able to replace "adónde" by "To/in what location?" … The difficulty comes with distinguishing that from inserting "To whatever location" - i.e., with the example: "We will go to whatever restaurant you want, my darling".

David M. asked:

"Adónde" or "Adonde", when movement is involved

Like Ian, I am confused by some of the examples given here, in particular:

Iremos adonde tú quieras, cariño >> We will go where (to whichever restaurant) you want, darling...

... which does involve movement, but despite that it uses 'donde' - with no accent !


And in the short quiz included in this site, I got this question wrong:

We are taking the children to where they can run around freely > Llevamos a los niños ________ puedan corretear libremente…. i.e., I [incorrectly !] chose "adónde" with an accent because it did seem to involve movement … (but no ! - it had to be "adonde").


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