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The following Spanish tutorial was written by a soon to be graduate student in linguistics named Jennifer Wagner, who runs a fantastic website called Indo-European Languages - ielanguages.com. We thank her for generously allowing us to post her work here!

30. Spanish Impersonal "a"

When the object of a verb (except tener) is a definite person, it is preceded by a.  It isn't used if a number precedes the object though.  The pronouns alguien (somebody), alguno (someone), nadie (nobody), and ninguno (no one) require a as well, when used as the direct object.  It is also used before geographical names that are not already preceded by an article.

Veo a Juan.  I see John.
Veo a alguien.  I see somebody.
Describe a Chile.  Describe Chile.