SPANISH PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions in Spanish are invariable words, meaning that they do not change form irrespective of their gender or number.

They establish the relationship between two elements in a given phrase, helping clarify how things or ideas are connected.

THE BASICS

Prepositions are words that introduce a complement known as término (or the object of the preposition). Together they form what is called a grupo preposicional (or a prepositional phrase). 

Play con una pequeña ayuda

With a little help

In the above example, con (with) is the preposition and una pequeña ayuda (with a little help) is the object of the preposition. Together, they form a prepositional phrase.

Prepositions are a closed grammatical category, meaning, they consist of a fixed number of elements. Below is the list of the generally accepted prepositions in Spanish:

In Spanish, prepositional phrases follow this structure:

NOTE || That the two elements of the structure above cannot be separated, unlike in English where at times the two can be separated.

For instance, in the English phrase ‘What are you talking about’, the pronoun ‘what’ is the object of the preposition ‘about’. 

Notice how, in Spanish, the same phrase Play ¿De qué estás hablando? maintains the required structure:
preposition ‘de’ (what) + object ‘qué’ (about).

If we were to follow the same structure as in English, we would come up with a grammatically incorrect phrase in Spanish: ¿Qué estás hablando de?

✅ Correct: Play ¿De qué estás hablando?
⛔ Incorrect: Play ¿Qué estás hablando de?

In the examples above, prepositions like de (of/from) and con (with) describe basic relationships (such as possession or company), while others such as hacia (towards/to) and entre (between/among) indicate direction or position.

FUNCTION & USE

Relational function

Although prepositions can have various functions, in Spanish, the common denominator between all prepositions is that they describe a relationship between two elements in a given phrase. For example:

Play El abrigo de Pablo

Pablo’s coat

In the example above, the preposition ‘de’ expresses a possessive relationship between the noun ‘abrigo’ (coat) and the object ‘Pablo’.

Lexical meaning

Some prepositions have lexical meanings as well, usually of location and time, like for example desde (from), bajo (under), and sobre (on, about). 

For the sake of clarity, lexical meaning refers to the inherent sense of a word as defined in a dictionary, irrespective of its use in a sentence or its grammatical purpose.

Contrasting meaning

Prepositions can also express contrasting meanings, like for instance con/sin (with/without), desde/hasta (from/until, to), and bajo/sobre (under/on, above).

In a prepositional phrase (preposition + object) in Spanish, the object of a preposition (known as término) can belong to various grammatical categories, as indicated below.

And always remember that the object of the preposition comes after the preposition and not before it.

• a noun or pronoun phrase, which often indicates possession, location, or association

MUST KNOW || With very few exceptions, personal pronouns that follow a preposition do not take the subject forms yo (I) and tú (you, informal) and instead take on the following structure:

para mí (for me) and not para yo 
sin ti (without you) and not sin tú

Examples for objects of prepositions (términos) categorized as a noun or pronoun phrase:

• an adjective phrase, which usually modifies or qualifies the noun they refer to, providing additional information (such as an opinion, a degree, or a characteristic)

Examples for objects of prepositions categorized as an adjective phrase:

• an adverbial phrase, which commonly expresses spatial relationships between objects

Examples for objects of prepositions categorized as an adverbial phrase:

• a prepositional phrase, that generally describes spatial and directional relations. In some cases, Spanish allows the sequence of up to two prepositions together

Examples for objects of prepositions categorized as prepositional phrases:

• a subordinate noun clause which generally expresses abstract concepts (ideas, fears, suspicions, hopes, promises, etc.) 

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