Lo ató con una cuerda.
He/she tied it up with a piece of string.
No oigo nada con tanto ruido de fondo.
I can’t hear anything with so much background noise.
Lo haré con mucho gusto.
I’ll do it gladly.25.1.6 Contra
Contra corresponds to English ‘against’. For opinions, etc., en contra de is often used.
dos contra uno
two against one
Apoyó la escalera contra la pared.
He/she put the ladder against the wall.
un argumento en contra de la reforma
an argument against reform25.1.7 De
De is an extremely frequent and versatile preposition in Spanish.25.1.7.1 De can express a number of types of relation between one noun and another. Although
it often corresponds to English ‘of’ (or the English genitive, ’s/s’), a much wider range of
prepositions are used in such cases in English.
(a) Possession or notion of belonging or association
la casa de mi abuela‘my grandmother’s house’
los bares de Madrid‘the bars in Madrid’
el tren de las cinco‘the five-o’clock train’
la carretera de Sevilla‘the road to Seville’
la aldaba de la puerta principal‘the knocker on the main door’
(b) Characteristic
el hombre de los zapatos blancos‘the man in the white shoes’
una silla de ruedas‘a wheelchair’ (a chair with wheels)
un niño de tres años‘a three-year-old boy’
(c) Specification
el mes de enero‘the month of January’
un libro de matemáticas‘a book about mathematics’
(d) Position
la casa de enfrente‘the house opposite’
(e) Material or manner of operation
una bolsa de plástico‘a plastic bag’
una camisa de seda‘a silk shirt’
una estufa de gas‘a gas stove’PREPOSITIONS 25.1