Prepositions in Spanish: what are they for and how are they used?

We welcome you to the exciting world of the prepositions in spanish! 

Learn prepositions It is something essential what should you do if you are a Spanish student, since it is one of the fundamental aspects of this beautiful language.

Prepositions are small but powerful words that play a crucial role in the structure and meaning of sentences. 

In this article we have prepared an extensive list of prepositions in Spanish, with many uses and examples. 

We will introduce you to their meaning and use, as well as provide you with practical examples that will allow you to understand how to use them correctly.

You will learn what are the 23 prepositions in Spanish. We will explain to you what each of them is used for and we will focus on the 2 that are most used: to and of.

We know that learning a new language can seem challenging at first, but don't worry. 

Our goal is to make this topic interesting and entertaining for you, drawing on real-life examples and situations. 

By the end of this article, you will better understand prepositions in Spanish and you can use them effectively in your daily life.

If you think you need to create direct contact with Spanish teachers to achieve an excellent level of Spanish and put it into practice every day, we offer you a good option: come to our school! 😁

we are Hispania, Spanish school. We are in the magnificent city ofValencia, in Spain. 

You can learn with the best teachers and the prestigious Hispania Method, which has received awards for years, in our face-to-face Spanish courses u online.

Sounds very tempting, right?

Prepositions, let's get you!

What are prepositions?

We start with the basics, a definition of a preposition would be the following:

A preposition is a word that establishes relationships between elements that make up a sentence, such as nouns, adjectives or verbs.

They are like types of links that join words and give meaning to sentences.

An example of a preposition would be to in the following sentence:

«I have seen to "Victor very happy." 

There are many types of prepositions with all kinds of uses, we will see them right away!

What are prepositions used for?

The use of prepositions in Spanish It is essential to speak or understand Spanish. 

These little words serve to express relationships of time, place, direction, possession, origin, instrument, cause, purpose and many more things.

If right now it is still not very clear to you, don't worry, later we will see very practical examples with each one that will help you better understand the meaning of the prepositions.

Prepositions in Spanish

Now that you know more or less what prepositions are and what they are for, you are probably wondering:

"What are the prepositions in Spanish?"

"How many are there in total?"

There are 23 prepositions in total. Of those 23, 19 have been around forever and 4 have been introduced more recently. Let's get to know them!

The 19 prepositions of Spanish

The 19 prepositions who have been with us all their lives are: 

TO, BEFORE, UNDER, FITS, WITH, AGAINST, FROM, IN, BETWEEN, TOWARDS, TO, FOR, BY, ACCORDING TO, WITHOUT, SO, ABOUT and AFTER.

Today we will focus on to and of, and we will explain them in great detail later. 

Now, so that you have an idea of ​​how these prepositions are used, we are going to briefly indicate the most important uses and examples with prepositions.

A: It has many uses, but one of the main ones is as direction or destination.

• Example: I go to the store.

Ante: indicates a situation of confrontation, confrontation or position regarding something.

• Example: He remained calm before the criticisms.

Low: expresses inferior position or submission.

• Example: The soldier is low the captain's orders.

with: can talk about company,

• Example: I go to the cinema with my friends.

Against: indicates opposition, resistance or confrontation towards something or someone.

• Example: They fought against the injustice.

From: of It is a preposition that also has many uses (we will see them later). One of the most common is possession.

• Example: The book is of Maria.

Since: initial point in time or space.

• Example: I will travel since Valencia to Barcelona.

In: the preposition in It is one of the most common prepositions of place in Spanish. It is also one of the prepositions of time.

• Example: In summer I'm always in the beach

between: expresses the relationship of several elements.

• Example: We share the cake between everyone.

Towards: direction or movement towards something or someone.

• Example: you walked towards the beach.

Until: the preposition until indicates final place or time.

• Example: We work until 6:00 p.m.

For: the preposition for It has many uses. The one that is most used is that of purpose or purpose. In this use, for It is always accompanied by an infinitive (para + infinitive).

• Example: Spanish study for integrate into the culture.

By: by It is a preposition that has many values. The best known is causa, which can be accompanied by a noun, pronoun, adjective or infinitive.

• Example: They got married by love.

According to: indicates point of view and opinion.

• Example: According to the report, sales increased.

Without: absence of something

• Example: I've been all day without eat anything

About: It can indicate a topic of conversation.

• Example: We talk about the project.

After: moment after something.

• Example: After class, I'll go downtown to look at some clothes.

We have not talked about fits and so because these grammatical prepositions have fallen into disuse and later we will dedicate a section to them.

In this list of prepositions with examples that we have made, we have included only one use of each preposition. But in reality, there are some that have many more. 

For example, by and forThey have a lot of uses that we already explained in another article.

The prepositions that have the most uses are: to, of, with, in, by and for. 

These are the prepositions that we usually work on in class because they are the ones that are used the most in Spanish.

The 4 new prepositions: during, through, versus and via

These 4 words were added to the list of prepositions in 2009. They make up the 23 that exist today.

We explain what each one is used for.

During:  during is a preposition that indicates the duration or amount of time in which something occurs.

• Example: We study during all winter.

Through: the means or mode used to accomplish something.

• Example: They solved the problem through cooperation.

Versus: indicates a comparison, contrast or confrontation.

• Example: Are you going to watch the Real Madrid game? versus Barcelona?

Via: indicates the means by which something is done.

• Example: I will send you the document via email.

Obsolete prepositions: fit and so

These two prepositions fell into disuse a long time ago, poor things.

It is true that they can still be seen in some very formal or literary contexts, but in everyday life no one uses them anymore.

Fits: is similar to "near" or "next to." Fits It is a preposition that indicates the closeness of something or someone. 

• Example: You will find the glasses fits the window.

So: used to indicate "below".

• Example: The cat is so the tree

Difference between preposition and prepositional phrase

Have you heard about the prepositional phrases?

It is important to note that they are not the same as prepositions.

We have seen that prepositions are small words that establish relationships between other words such as nouns, adjectives, verbs, pronouns, etc.

On the other hand, prepositional phrases are groups of two or more words, that include prepositions and that they have a specific meaning.

In this way it is created a prepositional group which really acts as if it were a single preposition and has a single meaning.

We can find many prepositional phrases referring to the spatial positions of something or someone: IN FRONT OF, BEHIND, NEXT TO, BELOW, IN FRONT OF, NEXT TO, ABOVE, FAR FROM, etc.

Other prepositional phrases that are frequently used are:

Before: expresses priority.

• Example: Before of the exam, I'm going to have a coffee.

After: expresses posteriority.

• Example: I'll go see you after the work.

Through: the means or way by which something is done.

• Example: I like to look at the sea through lto window.

By dint of: something is achieved or done through constant effort.

• Example: By dint of A lot of training, he became the best player on his team.

Instead of / instead of: indicate a replacement or alternative.

• Example: Today I will drink tea, instead of / instead of coffee.

The most used prepositions in Spanish: A and DE

What are the most used prepositions in Spanish? 

At the beginning of the text we warned you that in this article we would talk in great detail about the prepositions to and of. 

What is the reason? They are simply the most used prepositions. 

They have many uses, so, without further ado, let's get to know them in depth!

Contractions to and from

Look at the following sentences:

«John was to market. 

«Ángela did not attend the class of the Friday."

What do those mean to and of the? This is a phenomenon that only happens in these two prepositions. They are contractions. 

When these prepositions are accompanied by the article "the", these words are formed.

• Al (a + el): Today I will go to shopping center.
• Of (of + the): This is the car of the my friend's son

Therefore, of the It is a preposition plus an article and to too.

Values of preposition A

What is the meaning of the preposition to?

Well the truth is that many!

The preposition to has a total of 7 different values and widely used in Spanish. They are the following.

Destination

This is the most common use of the preposition to. Indicates the destination or place to which we are heading. 

Can go with many verbs of motion: go, come, return, arrive, go up, go down, etc.

Let's see this preposition with examples:

• I go to the beach
• she comes to school every day.
• We will return to London next Saturday.

Dates and days of the week

If we combine the verb to be in plural and we add the preposition to, we can talk about the date or day of the week in which we find ourselves.

Examples:

• Today we are at September 20.

• Tomorrow we will be at Wednesday.

But attention, we will say we are in + months or seasons of the year. For example, we are in August or  we are in summer.

Schedules

We can also point out the time in which an action takes place.

Examples:

• class starts to 9.30.
• The movie ended to 8:00 p.m.

Purpose

A is a preposition that can also express purpose. 

Normally, we associate the use of purpose with the preposition for. But we can also do it with to when we use verbs of motion: go to + do something, come to + do something, etc,

Examples:

• I have come to talk to you
• Today I'm going to the doctor to Have me do an analysis.

Talking about people with like verbs

When we use the verbs of type gustar (like, enchant, hurt, fascinate, seem...), we always put to in front of the person. 

This happens because in reality, the person is the indirect object, and the thing that is liked is the subject. 

In this way, by adding the preposition to Before the person, we clarify that this person does not perform the action as a subject, but rather enjoys or suffers it as an indirect complement. Because, as you well know, in Spanish the subject generally does not take a preposition.

Examples:

• A Vero loves to read.
• A Ricardo is interested in History.
• TOThey are passionate about mathematics.

Direct complement of people

We puttoin front of a person if we have the following structure: 

Subject + verb + A + someone

That "someone" works as a direct object of the person that accompanies the verb. That is, it completes the information that the verb needs for us to understand the action.

Examples:

• I have seen beforetoPaco at the fruit shop
• have you heardtoLydia? She seems very angry.

Distances in time or space

In this case the prepositiontoindicates adistance in time or spacein relation to a place as a reference.

Examples:

• my house istoten minutes from here.
• my house istoone kilometer from the school.

Values ​​of the preposition DE

It's the turn of the prepositionof! This has fewer uses than the previous one, four. Do you want to meet them? Forward!

Origin / provenance

Indicates the placewhere does it come from. You can also talk about the city ornative countrywith BE + DE.

Examples: 

• she comesofthe hairdresser.
• IamofSpain.

Possession

Here the prepositionofindicatesto whom or what something belongs.

Examples:

• This book isofPaola.
• These are the keysofhome.

Material

Expressthe type of materialthat has one thing.

Examples:

• This table isofwood.
• Your watch isofgold.

function or characteristic 

Talk about thefunction or characteristicof something 

Examples:

• Roberto is a machineofmake money.
• She already has her dressofbride.
• Tomorrow I start my classesofSpanish.

DE and A together

There are situations in which prepositions to and of are needed each other to give meaning to the sentence.

There are specifically 2 cases in which this happens.

Express beginning and end of a period of time

When we want to express the moment in which start and finish something, we can put these prepositions together. 

Of always marks the beginning, and to the end.

Axisexamples:

• The match was of 18.00 to 20.00.
• I was on vacation of August to September.

This use of the beginning and end of an action in time can also be expressed with prepositions since and until.

Example:

• Traveled through Latin America since April until October.

If we talk about the hours with these prepositions, we need to mark the articles. Look out there!

Example:

• Since the 14.00 until 3:00 p.m. there are hardly any people on the street.

Delimit a space

We can also delimit spaces or mark the beginning of a movement that starts from one place to another. 

Examples:

• Of Valencia to Madrid is 356 kilometers long.
• I'm going by train of Valencia to Santander.

A and DE in verbal periphrases

Do you know what are verbal periphrases?

They are verbs that are made up of a personal and a non-personal form of the verb, and some have prepositions.

Some of these periphrases are: 

duty of + infinitive (probability)

• Marcos hasn't come to work. must of be sick

Finish + infinitive (very recent action)

• I just finished of get home

Go to + infinitive (future plan)

• This weekend I'm going to go to the field

Return to + infinitive (repetition of an action or habit)

• I haven't returned it to see since we argued.

In verbal periphrases, prepositions do not have any of their uses, but simply function as link between the verb and the non-personal form (infinitive, gerund or participle).

Prepositions exercises

Well, well, we have already reached the end of this super article of the prepositions in spanish.

Surely now you understand its use better and your Spanish will improve a lot. We have no doubt about that.

Now it's time to practice prepositions with exercises to better assimilate everything you have learned.

We propose you two activities, one very simple and another more complex that will challenge you 😉. 

In the first one you have 8 sentences in which the preposition that you must write is missing. You have the 8 prepositions in the sentence.

Now comes the most difficult activity.

This is a text in which you must write the missing prepositions, so you will have to understand the context well to know which preposition to use. 

As in the previous exercise, we leave you the prepositions in the statement.

Good luck with the exercise! You can show the solution whenever you want.

Did you find it easy or difficult to work on prepositions in Spanish with these exercises?

If you think you need help with prepositions and other topics related to Spanish grammar, we recommend that you attend our classes at Hispania, Spanish school.

Our clear and dynamic way of understanding grammar characterizes us. We have a team of specialized teachers jexclusively in this, so your Spanish will be cemented from some solid foundations 🙌🏻.

Of all the prepositions, are there any that are totally new to you?

Which preposition is most difficult for you?

If you comment, we will be happy to help you.

See you next time!

Article written by Carlos Martinez for Hispania, Spanish school.

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