Spanish Prepositions

Spanish Prepositions

A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence, usually indicating the objects relationship in time or space in comparison to the content of the rest of the sentence. For example:

  • "The book is under the table."
    • The preposition is "under," which indicates the book's spatial relationship with the table.
  • "She read a magazine during classtime."
    • The preposition is "during," which indicates the temporal relationship between reading the magazine and classtime.

Common Simple Prepositions

a to, at
ante before, in the presence of
bajo under, below
con with
contra against
de of, from,
desde from, since
durante during
en in, on, into, upon, at, of
entre among, between
excepto except, but
hacia towards
hasta as far as, until, up to
para for, in order to
por for, through, by
según according to
sin without
sobre on, upon, about
tras after

Common Prepositional Phrases

conforme a according to
contrario a contrary to
frente a facing, opposite to
junto a close to
respeto a in regard to
acerca de about, regarding
además de besides
alrededor de around
antes de before (in time)
cerca de near
debajo de under
delante de before, in front of (place)
dentro de within, inside of
después de after (in time)
detrás de after, behind (place)
encima de over, on, above
enfrente de in front of
fuera de outside of
a causa de on account of
a fin de in order to
a pesar de in spite of
al lado de next to, by the side of
en cuanto a as to, with respect to
en lugar de instead of
en vez de instead of