Spanish Prepositions
Six prepositions handle 90% of the work in beginner Spanish. Each has a primary use, a few secondary ones, and a small set of phrasal combinations worth memorising.
de
The most common preposition in Spanish. Primary uses:
- Possession / origin: el libro de María (Maria's book), soy de Inglaterra (I'm from England)
- Material: una mesa de madera (a wooden table)
- Topic: hablamos de política (we talked about politics)
- Time of day: a las tres de la tarde (at three in the afternoon)
a
Direction, destination, time, and the personal a.
- Direction / destination: voy a Madrid (I'm going to Madrid)
- Time point: a las cinco (at five o'clock)
- Indirect object marker: le di el libro a María (I gave the book to Maria)
- Personal a: veo a María (I see Maria) - when the direct object is a person, a is mandatory
en
In, on, at - covers all three English prepositions of location and time.
- Location inside / on: en casa (at home), en la mesa (on the table), en Madrid (in Madrid)
- Time within: en enero (in January), en 2020 (in 2020)
- Means of transport: en coche (by car), en tren (by train), en avión (by plane). Exception: a pie (on foot), a caballo (on horseback).
con
Accompaniment and instrument - "with".
- With (someone): voy con mi hermano (I'm going with my brother)
- Instrument: come con un tenedor (he eats with a fork)
- Special forms: con + mí → conmigo, con + ti → contigo. Vienes conmigo (you're coming with me).
por and para
The two prepositions English collapses into "for". Spanish splits the work cleanly.
= cause, means, exchange, movement through:
- Cause / reason: gracias por la ayuda (thanks for the help)
- Movement through: caminamos por el parque (we walked through the park)
- Means of communication: te llamo por teléfono (I'll call you by phone)
- Exchange / price: lo compré por diez euros (I bought it for ten euros)
- Duration / approximate time: por la mañana (in the morning), por dos horas (for two hours)
= destination, purpose, deadline, recipient:
- Recipient: este regalo es para ti (this gift is for you)
- Purpose: estudio para aprender (I study in order to learn)
- Destination: salgo para Madrid (I'm leaving for Madrid)
- Deadline: para el lunes (by Monday)
- In someone's opinion: para mí, está mal (in my opinion, it's wrong)
The classic test case: (I work because of you / on your behalf) vs (I work for you - you're my employer).
The two mandatory contractions
Two combinations force a contraction with the masculine singular article .
- a + = : voy al cine, not "voy a el cine"
- + = : el coche del profesor, not "el coche de el profesor"
These aren't optional. They only apply to the article el, never to the accented pronoun él: stays uncontracted.
Verb + preposition combinations
Some Spanish verbs require a specific preposition, and the choice doesn't always match English.
| Spanish verb | Preposition | English |
|---|---|---|
| a | a | to go to |
| a + inf | a | to start to |
| a + inf | a | to learn to |
| to think about | ||
| con | con | to dream of/about |
| to depend on | ||
| to remember | ||
| con | con | to marry |
The headline mismatches: (not "pensar sobre"), con (not "soñar de"), (not "depender en").
Worked examples
- con . (I'm going to the cinema with my friends.)
- María. (The book is Maria's.)
- . (I live in a small house.)
- . (This gift is for my mother.)
- . (Thanks for everything.)
- a . (I see my brother every day.)
Common mistakes English speakers make
Forgetting the personal a: María instead of a María. Using en for time-points when it should be a: instead of a . Defaulting to para for everything that translates as "for" - half the time it's por. And missing the al / del contractions: a and are always wrong with the article.
See also
- The Spanish grammar cheatsheet covers the wider A1-B1 prepositional map.
- The intermediate Spanish grammar page covers por and para in fuller detail.