Today I saw a headline in the Mexican newspaper, Reforma (http://www.reforma.com/), that said, Arriba 'Gustav' a Luisiana. I couldn't really translate it, as two things troubled me: arriba and a. I found the translation of arriba pretty quick, and figured out the sentence must mean, 'Gustav' is above Louisiana. But I would still like to know why arriba is in the front of the subject - and also exactly how a is used. I've read the entry on a in the wiki (http://grammar.tomisimo.org/Personal_a), but I don't really feel it helps me. Could someone explain its use, together with examples?

¡Gracias! :)

Arriba means above and a means to in most cases. But in this case, arriba comes from the verb arribar, meaning to arrive.

Arriba Gustav a Luisiana
Llega Gustav a Luisiana
El huracán Gustav llega al estado de Luisiana

Today I saw a headline in the Mexican newspaper, Reforma (http://www.reforma.com/), that said, Arriba 'Gustav' a Luisiana. I couldn't really translate it, as two things troubled me: arriba and a. I found the translation of arriba pretty quick, and figured out the sentence must mean, 'Gustav' is above Louisiana. But I would still like to know why arriba is in the front of the subject - and also exactly how a is used. I've read the entry on a in the wiki (http://grammar.tomisimo.org/Personal_a), but I don't really feel it helps me. Could someone explain its use, together with examples?

¡Gracias! :)

Arriba means 'to reach port/nearing the shore/arrives'. The 'a' just means 'at'. So, 'Gustav arrives at Louisiana' is a good translation.

Ah, that explains everything. I didn't even think about checking whether it was a verb or not, I guess I should pay more attention next time. Thank you for the examples, Tomísimo, and thanks for clearing up the a in this context, Rusty! :)

So, the a, when used as a personal pronoun, does only refer to persons (or personifized objects), except for the few exception, like the entry in the wiki correctly states. I was getting confused as I read a as the pronoun, and I just couldn't get it right.

Edit: I read somewhere on the internet that the VS-order used in the headline isn't as common as the normal SV-order, and that it's used to emphasize an action, in this case, arriba, is this correct?

Subject-verb order isn't as strict in Spanish as it is in English. The verb can, and frequently does precede the subject. Here, in the headline, both V-S-O and S-V-O orders would have worked but perhaps, as you mentioned, putting the verb first gives emphasis to the action.

The personal 'a', as you have most likely learned, doesn't translate to any English word. It just needs to be used in Spanish. The prepositional 'a' that follows many verbs, like llegar a (to arrive at) or asistir a (to attend) may or may not translate directly into English. The preposition 'a' can be translated as 'at', 'to', 'for', 'on', 'in', etc. There's no easy rule. A good dictionary will translate awkward phrases, like 'at 1:00 p.m.' and 'on time' correctly (both use the preposition 'a' in Spanish).

Thanks once again, Rusty!

I've ordered a book on Spanish grammar on the internet some days ago, and I just borrowed another one from the local library today, so hopefully they can explain the usage even further.

I should really start using the reputation system - all of you guys are so helpful, I just forget about it all the time.