Like the English words ‘to’, ‘from’, ‘after’, ‘with’, Spanish prepositions are
used to link words and express a relationship between them, e.g. libroand
mesain El libro está sobrela mesa ‘The book is on the table’.
When a preposition is followed by a verb, in contrast to English which uses
the gerund ending in ‘-ing’, Spanish prepositions must alwaysbe followed
by the infinitive, e.g. antes de bailar ‘before dancing’. For the use of prepo-
sitions required after some verbs before an infinitive, e.g. Trató de hacerlo
‘He tried to do it’, see 17.2.
Verbs, nouns, adjectives and past participles which are used with preposi-
tions before a following noun need to be learned with the appropriate
preposition: e.g. abundar en ‘to be rich in’, contar con ‘to count on’, amor
a ‘love of’, interés en ‘interest in’, aficionado a ‘keen on’, convencido de
‘convinced of’.
Uses of some common Spanish prepositions are discussed below.A
This occurs in a wide range of contexts.The personal aIt is so named since it is required when the direct object of the verb is a
noun referring to a specific, known person:
No conozco a Yolanda. I don’t know Yolanda.
Solo nominaron al director. They only nominated the
director.21.1.1.121.1.121.1