Prepositions in the
Spanish language, like those in other languages, are a set of
connecting words (such as ''con'', ''de'' or ''para'') that serve to indicate a relationship between a
content word (noun, verb, or adjective) and a following noun phrase (or noun, or pronoun), which is known as the object of the preposition. The relationship is typically spatial or temporal, but prepositions express other relationships as well. As implied by the name, Spanish "prepositions" (like those of English) are positioned ''before'' their objects. Spanish does not place these function words ''after'' their objects, which would be
postpositions.
Spanish prepositions can be classified as either "simple", consisting of a single word, or "compound", consisting of two or three words. The prepositions of Spanish form a
closed class and so they are a limited set to which new items are rarely added. Many Spanish school pupils memorize the following list: ''a,
ante
Ante or Antes may refer to:
* Ante (cards), an initial stake paid in a card game
* Ante (poker), a forced bet in the game of poker
* Ante (name), Croatian form of the given name Anthony
* The Latin word ''ante'', meaning "before", which is used as ...
,
bajo
The Bajo, Bajonese, Bajonesian, or Wajo, Wajonese ( bug, ᨈᨚ ᨓᨍᨚ, To Wajo; pey, Badjo; nl, Badjo, ) are the indigenous Indonesian ethnic group native to the Bajo Island of Lesser Sunda Islands (''Nusa Tenggara'') in Indonesia. These ...
,
cabe
Cabe or CABE may refer to:
* Cabe (river), a tributary of the Sil River in Spain
*CABE, the Chartered Association of Building Engineers, professional body for building engineers in the UK and overseas established in 1925
*CABE, the Commission for ...
, con,
contra, de,
desde,
durante,
en,
entre,
hacia
Prepositions in the Spanish language, like those in other languages, are a set of connecting words (such as ''con'', ''de'' or ''para'') that serve to indicate a relationship between a content word (noun, verb, or adjective) and a following nou ...
,
hasta
Hasta may refer to:
Latin
*Hasta (spear)
*Hasta Pompeia, a Roman town today known as Asti
Sanskrit
*Hasta (hand), a Sanskrit word meaning hand gesture or position
*Hasta (unit), a measure of length
*Hasta (nakshatra), the thirteenth nakshatra of ...
,
mediante, para, por, según, sin,
so,
sobre
Prepositions in the Spanish language, like those in other languages, are a set of connecting words (such as ''con'', ''de'' or ''para'') that serve to indicate a relationship between a content word (noun, verb, or adjective) and a following nou ...
, and
tras
Tras may refer to:
* Tras (state constituency), in Malaysia
* ''tras'', a Spanish preposition
* Tras Honan (born 1930), Irish politician
* Xavier Tras, a fictional name used in cricket scoring
See also
* Tras Street, a street in Singapore
*
* T ...
.'' The list includes two
archaic
Archaic is a period of time preceding a designated classical period, or something from an older period of time that is also not found or used currently:
*List of archaeological periods
**Archaic Sumerian language, spoken between 31st - 26th cent ...
prepositions — ''so'' (“under”) and ''cabe'' (“beside”), and it excludes ''
vía'' (“by way of, via”) and ''
pro'' (“in favor of”), two
Latinisms
A Latinism (from lat-med, Latinismus) is a word, idiom, or structure in a language other than Latin that is derived from, or suggestive of, the Latin language. The Term ''Latinism'' refers to those loan words that are borrowed into another lang ...
that have been recently adopted into the language.
Some common Spanish prepositions, simple and compound, are listed below with their meanings.
Some frequent simple prepositions in Spanish
''a''
''A'' is most often translated as "to" or "at"; its main uses are the following:
* It indicates movement to a destination:
** ''Viajaron a Madrid.'' = "They traveled to Madrid."
** ''Llegaron a Madrid.'' = "They arrived in Madrid."
* It indicates a stationary point on a quantitative scale, as in telling time (but usually not a spatial location, which is normally expressed by ''en''):
** ''Llegaron a las dos.'' = "They arrived at two o'clock."
** ''Se venden a dos dólares la libra.'' = "They are sold at two dollars a pound."
* It introduces
infinitives after several common verbs, including ''ir'' ("to be going to
o something
O, or o, is the fifteenth Letter (alphabet), letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in ...
, a
periphrastic
In linguistics, periphrasis () is the use of one or more function words to express meaning that otherwise may be expressed by attaching an affix or clitic to a word. The resulting phrase includes two or more collocated words instead of one infl ...
future), ''volver'' ("to
o something
O, or o, is the fifteenth Letter (alphabet), letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in ...
again"), ''comenzar'', ''empezar'' (both "to begin"), ''ayudar'' ("to help"), ''aprender'' ("to learn"), and ''enseñar'' ("to teach"):
** ''Voy a enfadarme.'' = "I am going to become angry."
** ''Aprende no sólo a hablar sino también a escribir el castellano.'' = "Do not just learn to speak Spanish, but also to write it", "Learn not just to speak, but also to write Spanish."
* It introduces a direct object referring either to a person or a