La natación

[fglorca]

In English, when we talk about swimming (or sports) in general, we tend to omit the definite article. In Spanish, it doesn’t seem to be as straightforward. Are these sentences below grammatically correct? If so, is there a particular reason why ‘la’ is used?

• Te gustaría practicar natación conmigo hoy?
• Te gustaría practicar la natación conmigo hoy?

• Te gustaría hacer natación conmigo hoy?
• Te gustaría hacer la natación conmigo hoy?

Are both of these correct?
• Te gustaría ir a nadar conmigo hoy?
• Te gustaría nadar conmigo hoy?


Many thanks in advance.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"La" makes it sound like you're practicing all there is about swimming as sport. It's much better without the article.

And for reasons of euphony, I'd say "hoy conmigo", but there is no actual rule, that I know, about the word order here. :)

Your last sentences are grammatically correct, but they have a different meaning: the first one stresses the idea of going together to a place for swimming and the other simply focuses on the activity itself, probably because it's already understood where it will be done.