Al + infinitivo

(sentence starters)
B1 (¡Ya le agarras la onda!)Used EVERYWHERE 🇲🇽Standard Spanish 😌

🧠 What it means

This is another super useful chunk and one that you’ll be using A LOT once you get your head around it! It’s basically just a really neat way of linking events: 👉 on/upon + infinitive Al llegar a la playa, me metí en el mar luego luego.
When I got to the beach, I got into the water straight away.* Al terminar la tarea, el niño empezó a jugar videojuegos.
After finishing his homework, the boy started playing video games. *In spoken English, we almost always use when instead of on/upon to link the two events (see examples below!). 💡 Remember NOT to use al with gerunds (-ando/-iendo): ✔️ al llegaral llegando

🌪️ When to whip it out

Whenever you want to say what happened when a particular action occurred:

Al escuchar la noticia, todos se sorprendieron.
Everyone was shocked when they heard the news.
Al terminar la clase, salimos corriendo.
When the class ended, we ran out.

⚠️ Tone

✅ Neutral, standard Spanish.

🚫 Not slangy at all!

🔁 Similar chunks

Cuando + verboEn cuanto + verboNomás que + verbo

🦜 El Rincón del Cotorreo

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