Specific usage case of prepositions for manner indication

Question

For the case of manner indication, I am unsure which preposition becomes more appropriate for which instances.

An example of what I mean is :

Vamos a Italia en tren.

Vamos a Italia a tren.

Is this second preposition becoming 'en' because this 'a' repetition was deemed for some reason unwarranted?

An example of indication of manner using a may be:

Lo hice a mano

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 17 '20 at 09:53

5

The answer is "no", because you could say

Vamos a Italia a caballo.

Vamos a Italia a caballo a jugar a la comba

It is not an unwanted repetition that makes you change it from a to en. It's simply that we say "voy a caballo" and "voy en tren".

Prepositions in every language are tricky, and the intricacies may vary.

It's true that preposition a is used to express method (in which way it's done):

vamos a pie

But en is used to express the means:

Vamos en tren/barco/coche

edited Jun 17 '20 at 09:53

Community

answered Jan 13 '18 at 02:48

Diego

I figured that, and I thank you for your response. – Abe Shudug Jan 13 '18 at 03:47
1

Summed up, prepositions are very random. Even between close languages, they can vary widely. – user0721090601 Jan 13 '18 at 23:24
Think of it as this, "Let's go by train to Italy" vs "Let's go on the train to Italy". – dockeryZ Jan 14 '18 at 05:46
1

Y con este +1 llegas a 30 000 puntos. ¡Enhorabuena! Que nunca te falten las ganas para seguir sumando decenas de miles. Los conocimientos te sobran para conseguirlo :) – fedorqui Jan 25 '18 at 14:20

1 Answers1