Where Do You Go in Spanish? | Common Ways To Ask It

The natural Spanish phrase is “¿Adónde vas?”, which you use when asking someone about their current or near-future destination.

If you spend time with Spanish speakers, sooner or later you hear questions like “¿Adónde vas?” or “¿Dónde vas?” and wonder which one matches “Where do you go?”. Both show up in real conversations, and both sound normal in the right setting.

This guide walks you through the main pattern native speakers use, how the verb ir works, and what changes when you switch tense, subject, or level of formality. By the end, you can ask about someone’s destination in clear, natural Spanish instead of translating word by word from English.

We will stay close to the way Spanish grammar describes these forms, leaning on resources such as the Diccionario de la lengua española and the Diccionario panhispánico de dudas from the Real Academia Española, plus guidance from the Centro Virtual Cervantes.

How To Ask Where You Go In Spanish

When English speakers think of “Where do you go?”, they normally have a destination in mind: where someone is going now, or soon. Spanish marks that idea of movement with a special question word.

Core Phrase: ¿Adónde Vas?

The most common way to ask this destination question is:

¿Adónde vas?

Breakdown:

• ¿ and ? mark a Spanish question from start to finish.
• Adónde combines the preposition a (“to”) and the question word dónde (“where”), so it means “to where”.
• Vas is the second-person singular form of the verb ir (“to go”).

So “¿Adónde vas?” lines up with “Where are you going?” or “Where do you go?” when the focus is on movement toward a place.

Adónde Vs. A Dónde Vs. Dónde

Spanish accepts both ¿Adónde vas? and ¿A dónde vas?. The Real Academia Española notes that both spellings work with verbs of movement, and both appear in standard writing. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}

You also hear and read ¿Dónde vas?. In this case the preposition a disappears in speech. Grammars still treat dónde here as a place word linked to movement, so in normal talk it often carries the same meaning as adónde when the verb already shows motion.

As a learner, this gives you a simple rule of thumb:

• Use ¿Adónde vas? (or ¿A dónde vas?) as your main pattern for “Where are you going?”
• Understand ¿Dónde vas? when you hear it, since many speakers shorten the phrase in practice.

Formal And Plural Versions

Spanish changes the form of ir depending on who you talk to. The question word stays the same, but the verb ending shifts.

• ¿Adónde va? – speaking politely to one person (usted).
• ¿Adónde vais? – speaking to a group in Spain (vosotros).
• ¿Adónde van? – speaking to a group anywhere, or to several people in Latin America (ustedes).

All of these keep the same idea: you ask about the place someone is heading to, right now or in the near future.

Verb Ir And The Question Word Dónde

Every version of this question revolves around the verb ir. The Diccionario de la lengua española defines its main sense as “moverse de un lugar hacia otro apartado de la persona que habla”, that is, moving from one place to another away from the speaker. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}

That idea of movement lines up with what the Diccionario panhispánico de dudas explains for dónde and adónde: with verbs of motion, Spanish can use dónde by itself or combine it with a to build adónde / a dónde. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}

So when you ask “Where do you go?” in Spanish, you are really mixing two pieces:

• a place word that points toward a destination (adónde), and
• a form of ir that tells us who goes, and in which tense.

Present Tense Patterns For Destination Questions

The present tense of ir covers “Where are you going now?” and regular habits like “Where do you go on Fridays?”. Here are the main forms you need with adónde in short questions.

Person	Present Form Of ir	Sample Question With Adónde
Yo (I)	voy	¿Adónde voy en esta línea de metro?
Tú (you, informal)	vas	¿Adónde vas después del trabajo?
Él / Ella	va	¿Adónde va ella los fines de semana?
Usted (you, formal)	va	¿Adónde va usted normalmente a almorzar?
Nosotros / Nosotras	vamos	¿Adónde vamos si llueve durante el viaje?
Vosotros / Vosotras	vais	¿Adónde vais cuando estáis de vacaciones?
Ellos / Ellas	van	¿Adónde van cuando salen tan temprano?
Ustedes	van	¿Adónde van ustedes después de la reunión?

You can read longer conjugation tables for ir in many reference tools, such as the online verb charts on Spanish learning sites, but the pattern above already gives you the core forms you need for present-tense “where” questions. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}

When To Use Dónde Without The Preposition

Official guidance explains that dónde works as an interrogative adverb of place, and in questions with verbs of movement you can use dónde or adónde. The form with the preposition shows up more often, though both appear in real usage. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}

That means questions like these all feel natural:

• ¿Adónde vas tan deprisa?
• ¿A dónde vas tan deprisa?
• ¿Dónde vas tan deprisa?

In each sentence the verb ir already points toward movement, so listeners understand that the speaker asks about a destination.

Where Did You Go And Where Will You Go In Spanish

English does not change the question word much when you move from present to past or future. Spanish keeps dónde / adónde, but the form of ir shifts quite a bit from tense to tense. This lets you ask “Where did you go?” or “Where are you going to go?” with fine detail.

Past Tense: ¿Adónde Fuiste?

The direct past version of “Where did you go?” in Spanish is:

¿Adónde fuiste? – speaking to someone you treat as tú.

Other versions:

• ¿Adónde fue? – polite form with usted.
• ¿Adónde fueron? – plural question, matching “Where did you all go?”.

You can also add time markers, just as in English:

• ¿Adónde fuiste ayer por la noche?
• ¿Adónde fueron el verano pasado?

Near Future: ¿Adónde Vas A Ir?

Spanish uses ir plus a plus an infinitive verb to speak about plans. With a destination question, it looks like this:

¿Adónde vas a ir? – “Where are you going to go?”

This structure feels natural in casual speech, because Spanish speakers often talk about short-term plans with this pattern instead of the simple future tense. You can change the subject in the same way as before:

• ¿Adónde vamos a ir este fin de semana?
• ¿Adónde van a ir tus padres de vacaciones?

Simple Future: ¿Adónde Irás?

When you talk about a more distant plan or about a guess, you can switch to the simple future.

• ¿Adónde irás cuando termines la carrera?
• ¿Adónde irán ellos cuando se jubilen?

In these examples, the person asking does not have a fixed arrangement in mind. The question sounds more like curiosity about long-term choices.

Adónde Or Dónde: Picking The Right Form

Several reference works explain that dónde works with both state and movement, while adónde stays tied to verbs of motion and the idea of destination. :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}

That gives you a simple contrast:

• ¿Dónde estás? – asks about location, not movement.
• ¿Adónde vas? – asks where the person is heading.

If you want to keep your Spanish clear and clean, reach for ¿Adónde vas? whenever you think of “Where do you go?” in the sense of a destination. Once you feel comfortable, you can start to notice how native speakers sometimes shorten that form to ¿Dónde vas? when the verb already shows the direction of movement.

Common Mistakes English Speakers Make

English structure pushes many learners toward direct translations. That creates a few patterns that sound odd to native ears.

• ✗ ¿Dónde tú vas? – Spanish normally skips the subject pronoun here; use ¿Adónde vas?.
• ✗ ¿A dónde estás yendo? – grammatically possible but slow; in most everyday talk, ¿Adónde vas? feels shorter and cleaner.
• ✗ ¿Dónde vas a? – the preposition a cannot stand alone; pair it with a place: ¿Adónde vas a cenar? or ¿A qué restaurante vas?.

Another detail: question words like dónde always carry a written accent when they introduce a direct or indirect question. Guides for Spanish question words stress this, since the accent mark distinguishes dónde from the relative form donde. :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}

Real Conversation Examples With Where You Go Questions

So far we have looked at short patterns in isolation. The table below shows longer pieces of talk with “where you go” questions inside them, plus natural replies. You can adapt these to your own life by changing the places and times.

Context	Spanish Dialogue	English Meaning
Friends after work	— Oye, ¿adónde vas ahora? — Voy al gimnasio, ¿y tú?	“Hey, where are you going now?” – “I’m going to the gym, and you?”
Taxi ride	— Buenas tardes, ¿adónde va? — Al aeropuerto, por favor.	“Good afternoon, where are you going?” – “To the airport, please.”
Weekend plans	— ¿Adónde vas a ir el sábado? — Creo que voy a ir a la playa.	“Where are you going to go on Saturday?” – “I think I’ll go to the beach.”
Past holiday	— ¿Adónde fuiste de vacaciones? — Fuimos a México con unos amigos.	“Where did you go on holiday?” – “We went to Mexico with some friends.”
New city	— Soy nuevo aquí, ¿adónde vas cuando quieres tomar buen café? — Yo voy a una cafetería pequeña en el centro.	“I’m new here, where do you go when you want good coffee?” – “I go to a small café in the centre.”
Life plans	— ¿Adónde irás cuando termines la universidad? — Todavía no lo sé, quizá a otro país.	“Where will you go when you finish university?” – “I don’t know yet, maybe to another country.”

Reading short scenes like these helps you connect the question pattern with real moods: curiosity between friends, polite questions from strangers, or deeper talk about long-term plans.

Final Tips For Sounding Natural

When you want to say “Where do you go?” in Spanish, keep three practical points in mind.

• Pick the right question word. With a destination in mind, adónde (or a dónde) is the clearest choice alongside ir, as grammar notes from the Real Academia Española explain.
• Match the verb to the subject. Use vas with tú, va with él/ella/usted, vamos with nosotros, vais with vosotros, and van with ellos/ellas/ustedes. :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}
• Switch tense for time. Present for “Where are you going now?” (¿Adónde vas?), preterite for “Where did you go?” (¿Adónde fuiste?), and future or ir a + infinitive for plans (¿Adónde vas a ir?, ¿Adónde irás?).

If you treat “¿Adónde vas?” as your anchor phrase and then build other versions around it, your questions about where someone goes will sound close to native use, and conversations with Spanish speakers will feel smoother from the first lines.