donde vs adonde

I am so confused when to use donde vs adonde.  This sentence came up:  You have to know how to explain where you went.  Seems like it should end with donde fuiste, but it didn't, it was adonde fuiste.  

Por que?

¡Hola LisaL92!

Thanks for your question! 

As you've noticed, you'll see both donde and adonde translated as “where” in English. However, to be precise, adonde actually carries the meaning of “to where”; it is used when the sentence implies motion forward, which is often indicated by verbs of motion like ir “to go.” Donde, on the other hand, just means “where” and is used when we're talking about fixed positions. 

So in the sentence you've indicated, Tienes que saber cómo explicar adónde fuiste "(You) have to know how to explain where (you) went," we have to use adónde because there is motion. But in a question like ¿Dónde está el baño? "Where is the bathroom?", we have to use dónde because the bathrooms aren't going anywhere. 

I hope that this helps to clear everything up for you! Do let me know if you still have any questions.

Saludos,

Liss

I thought that voy meant "I go", as in I'm going to somewhere.  Me voy meant I leave, or I'm going away from somewhere.  Likewise vamos means let's go to some place, whereas vamenos means let's leave where we are.  No?

Sorry, I mean vámonos, not vamenos

Interesting.  Thank you.

¡Hola Al22 y LisaL92!

Since a few different questions have come up in this discussion, I'll divide my answer up in sections to make things easier to read!

1. A and de

You're right to say that de means “from / of” and that a means “to / at,” Al22. However, it's important to note that a is most commonly used to mean “at” only in terms of time (e.g. a las siete “at seven o'clock”). To say “at” in terms of location, you'll use en “in / on” when you are stationary (e.g. Estoy en casa “(I) am at home”) and a when you are arriving in or at the location (e.g. Llego al trabajo “(I) arrive at work”). 

It's a bit tricky! So when you're first starting out with Spanish, we recommend thinking of de as “from / of” and of a as simply “to.” We introduce these two prepositions in this way in Lesson 2.9 “'To Go': The Verb IR” (and we get into the trickiness of exactly how en vs. a works much later on, in Lesson 19.5 “Getting on Top of Prepositions”).

As for the personal a, it's a bit of a different animal because it doesn't actually have a meaning; instead, it's more of a marker to show who the object of the sentence is (i.e. who is receiving the action), since Spanish word order can sometimes be quite flexible. (Anyone who would like an explanation on the personal a can check out Lesson 5.6 "'Me' and 'Her': Direct Object Pronouns" under the heading “When People Are Direct Objects.”)

2. Accents on question words

You're also right to think that accents indicate questions, Al22: all question words (e.g. qué “what,” cómo “how,” etc.) take accents when they are involved in questions - and also when they're in exclamations (e.g. ¡Qué sorpresa! “What (a) surprise!”). When they are not actually involved in a question or exclamation, however, then they should not have any accents. 

You can find a brief explanation about the basics of accenting question words in Lesson 3.5 “Asking Questions”; we save the much more advanced topic of accents in indirect questions for Lesson 17.8 “Asking Indirectly.”

3. Voy vs. me voy
 

Voy “(I) go” is a conjugation of ir “to go,” while me voy “(I) go / (I) go away / (I) leave” is a conjugation of irse “to go away / to leave.” So just as you say, LisaL92, voy is normally about going to a location while me voy is about leaving a location. And, as you indicate, Al22, me voy will be the version normally used with de “of / from”; however, including de isn't mandatory (e.g. you can easily say something like Tengo que irme “(I) have to go / (I) have to leave”).

The same rules apply for vamos “(we) go / (let's) go” and vámonos “(let's) go / (let's) leave”: the first is focused more on the destination, and the second is more about the departure. 

All of that being said, it is possible to hear people use the reflexive/pronominal form of the verb (irse) when talking about a destination, like in your sentence Me voy a la mesa, Al22. Doing this just emphasizes the idea of leaving the current location - a bit like saying “I'm off to the table” or “I'm going away to the table” in English.
 

I hope this is helpful! If I've missed anything or if either of you still have any questions, just let me know!

Saludos,

Liss