{
  "chapter_id": "15",
  "slug": "al-del",
  "title": "al & del",
  "time_range_sec": [3543, 3634],
  "summary": "Spanish contracts a + el into al and de + el into del to eliminate the redundant vowel sound; these are the only two mandatory contractions in Spanish.",
  "suggested_grammar_note_id": null,
  "rules": [
    {
      "title": "Mandatory contractions",
      "bullets": [
        "a + el becomes al ('to the' masculine singular).",
        "de + el becomes del ('of/from the' masculine singular).",
        "Both contractions are required, not optional."
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "When NOT to contract",
      "bullets": [
        "Never contract with la, los, or las.",
        "Never contract with the pronoun él (he/him) - it keeps the accent and stays separate.",
        "Do not contract with proper nouns that capitalize El (e.g., El Salvador)."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "examples": [
    {"es": "Yo quiero ir al baño.", "en": "I want to go to the bathroom.", "tags": ["al"]},
    {"es": "Yo quiero ir a la clase.", "en": "I want to go to the class.", "tags": ["no-contraction"]},
    {"es": "Él es del mercado.", "en": "He is from the market.", "tags": ["del"]},
    {"es": "Él es de la clase.", "en": "He is from the class.", "tags": ["no-contraction"]},
    {"es": "¿Qué supones del mercado?", "en": "What do you suppose of the market?", "tags": ["del", "question"]},
    {"es": "Vamos al parque.", "en": "Let's go to the park.", "tags": ["al"]},
    {"es": "Vengo del trabajo.", "en": "I come from work.", "tags": ["del"]},
    {"es": "Es el libro del profesor.", "en": "It's the teacher's book.", "tags": ["del", "possession"]},
    {"es": "Voy a El Salvador.", "en": "I'm going to El Salvador.", "tags": ["proper-noun"]},
    {"es": "El regalo es de él.", "en": "The gift is from him.", "tags": ["pronoun-él"]}
  ],
  "vocab": [
    {"es": "al", "en": "to the (m.)", "pos": "phrase"},
    {"es": "del", "en": "of/from the (m.)", "pos": "phrase"},
    {"es": "baño", "en": "bathroom", "pos": "noun"},
    {"es": "mercado", "en": "market", "pos": "noun"},
    {"es": "trabajo", "en": "work/job", "pos": "noun"}
  ],
  "conjugation_tables": [],
  "exercises": [
    {"sentence": "Yo voy _____ baño.", "correct": "al", "distractor": "a el", "explanation": "a + el always contracts to al."},
    {"sentence": "Vengo _____ mercado.", "correct": "del", "distractor": "de el", "explanation": "de + el always contracts to del."},
    {"sentence": "Quiero ir _____ clase.", "correct": "a la", "distractor": "al", "explanation": "Feminine la does not contract."},
    {"sentence": "Es el regalo _____ profesor.", "correct": "del", "distractor": "de la", "explanation": "Profesor is masculine, so de + el = del."},
    {"sentence": "El libro es _____ él.", "correct": "de", "distractor": "del", "explanation": "The pronoun él (with accent) does not contract; only the article el does."},
    {"sentence": "Vamos _____ playa.", "correct": "a la", "distractor": "al", "explanation": "Playa is feminine; no contraction."},
    {"sentence": "El presidente _____ Salvador habló.", "correct": "de El", "distractor": "del", "explanation": "Proper nouns with capital El don't contract."}
  ],
  "caveats": "Source clean text contained OCR garbling like 'ael', 'deel', 'Bo' (baño); reconstructed from context."
}