I started learning Spanish a few weeks ago and there is something that puzzles me. I'm a fluent English and French speaker (French being my native tongue) and I don't understand why some sentences seemingly need to contain "a" or "al".
Per example, I've seen this:
Veo al niño.
Él ayuda a su hermano.
I don't understand why the "a" is needed there. In both English and French, it does not make sense to have it there:
I see the boy. / Je vois le garçon.
He helps his brother. / Il aide son frère.
I learned that "al" means "to the" more or less, and that just doesn't make sense:
I see to the boy.
Is there a reason/pattern for those or is it arbitrary, or even optional? Why wouldn't I say this instead:
Él ayuda su hermano.
Thanks,