"Busca a" vs. "busca"

[Sinah730221]

Could someone explain the difference between those sentences to be? I just don't get it...

" Juan busca a su hermana"
"El hombre busca las llaves de ella" and "Maria busca la hermana de Juan"

Why does the first sentence use "busca a" and the other ones use "busca"?

Thanks a lot in advance!!

[Lrtward]

Juan busca a su hermana = the 'a' is the 'personal a' and it is used when the object of the verb is a person.

El hombre busca las llaves = the keys are not a person, so no 'personal a'

Maria busca la hermana de Juan = I would think this should be '...busca a la hermana...'

The "personal a" makes things, well, more personal. More special.

Escucho la música - I hear the music (or I listen to the music)
Escucho a mi mamá - I hear my mother (or I listen to my mother)

Veo el árbol - I see the tree
Veo a mi hermana - I see my sister

Eligo un beisbol - I pick out a baseball
Eligo a un amigo - I pick a friend

[alex_arnl]

'Beisbol' is the sport, 'pelota de beisbol' is the term you were looking for.

[Sinah730221]

Thank you so much!
Does this rule only apply to persons, or to any living subjects, meaning pets and other animals included?

[PatCantDuo]

It applies to animals aswell.

[zaitrancer]

It can also apply to a country. For example, you can say "Amo a mi patria" which makes it more special.

[Sinah730221]

So can I apply it to anything that has a special meaning to me? Like... I don't know, stupid example, but if I have an emotional binding with my house, city, a certain object etc.?

[spiceyokooko]

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/personal-a-in-spanish/

[alex_arnl]

There are a couple of bad/misleading examples there. Careful.