Spanish prepositions
Encyclopedia
The prepositions of the Spanish language
function exclusively as such, therefore, the language does not use postposition constructions. Most derive from Latin
, excepting the Arabic-derived hasta (“until”); yet the list herein includes two archaic
prepositions — so (“under”) and cabe (“beside”), and excludes vía (“by way of, via”) and pro (“in favour of”), two Latin
isms recently integrated to the language. Pedagogically
, Spanish language education imparts command of these words via mnemonic-device recitation of: a, ante, bajo, cabe, con, contra, de, desde, durante, en, entre, hacia, hasta, mediante, para, por, según, sin, so, sobre, and tras.
Prepositional contraction: al (“to the”, “to”) is the contraction formed with a and el (“the”), the masculine definite article, yet the contraction is waived when the article is part of a title:
usage gave Spanish the migo, tigo, and sigo, and the nosco and vosco forms, their usages now lost; like-wise the denotations of the -go and -co suffixes, in the event, speakers redundantly prefixed con- to these words, hence this Spanish prepositional usage. (see: inflected preposition
)
This syntactical
reversion also occurs in the Italian language, wherein one can say con me, con te, and con sé, or, in the archaic style, meco, teco, and seco.
The preposition de is equivalent to the English apostrophe-“s” ( ’s) possessive construction; for example:
Prepositional contractions: When de is followed by the masculine definite article
el (“the”), they form the contraction del (“of the”), however, de does not contract to del when followed by the homophonous
personal pronoun
él (“he”) or a proper noun, thus:
Prepositional typography: the upper-case form DE was configured as the siglum
Đ — a typographic ligature adopted as a concise written and printed word-character, that originated as a lapidary
scribal abbreviation
.
Moreover, the preposition de is part of many compound prepositions, such as dentro de (“within”, “inside of”) and en contra de (“against . . .”); see section 2, below, for fuller description.
to English with, and as, permutations of "for", thus, to Anglophone learners of Spanish as a foreign language, determining the appropriate preposition might (initially) prove confusing. In the event, Cassell's Contemporary Spanish dictionary generally indicates that por denotes “cause” and “reason” (retrospective), while para denotes “purpose” and “destination” (prospective); the following are common usages of these prepositions:
por
para
In quotidian usage, the preposition para often is clipped
to pa, as in the colloquial
rustic usage: Amos p'alante. (“Le’s go forward.”), rather than the standard
Vamos para adelante. (“Let us go forward.")
Popular speech uses it alone, replacing depende (“depends”):
Moreover, regional colloquial usage of the preposition según also expresses evidential mood
, indicating hearsay or non-commitment (“supposedly”, “it is said”).
Combining the conjunction que to the preposition sin creates sin que (“without which”), a compound conjunction requiring the subjunctive mood
:
Spanish compound prepositions are composed of:
, there is no normative
reason to condemn the use of a por. In some contexts, a por expresses a clearer meaning than por:
Other Spanish compound prepositions are:
features three adpositions — the preposition (preceding), the postposition (following), and the circumposition (enclosing) — allowing constructions such as “in the box”, “on the airplane”, and “out of Africa”, as in Spanish, but the postposition: “three years ago” is Hispanically impossible usage as: “ago three years,” thus Spanish preposition’s exclusive function as such; these examples express like concepts using only prepositions:
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
function exclusively as such, therefore, the language does not use postposition constructions. Most derive from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, excepting the Arabic-derived hasta (“until”); yet the list herein includes two archaic
Archaism
In language, an archaism is the use of a form of speech or writing that is no longer current. This can either be done deliberately or as part of a specific jargon or formula...
prepositions — so (“under”) and cabe (“beside”), and excludes vía (“by way of, via”) and pro (“in favour of”), two Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
isms recently integrated to the language. Pedagogically
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
, Spanish language education imparts command of these words via mnemonic-device recitation of: a, ante, bajo, cabe, con, contra, de, desde, durante, en, entre, hacia, hasta, mediante, para, por, según, sin, so, sobre, and tras.
a
A generally denotes to and at; it has these notable usages:- It indicates movement to a destination:
- "Viajaron a Madrid." = "They traveled to Madrid."
- "Llegaron a Madrid." = "They arrived in Madrid."
- It indicates a point on a quantitative scale, as in telling time (but not a more general stationary 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're being sold at two dollars a pound."
- It introduces indirect objects that Latin would have marked with the dative caseDative caseThe dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink"....
:- Le envié la carta a Ana. = "I sent Ana the letter", "I sent the letter to Ana."
- ¿Le/Les regalaste el coche a tus padres? = "Did you give your parents the car as a gift?", "Did you give the car to your parents (as a gift)?"
- Note that the indirect object pronoun forms le and les appear, even when the indirect object is given in full; see Spanish pronounsSpanish pronounsThe Spanish language has a range of pronouns that in some ways work quite differently from English ones. In particular, subject pronouns are often omitted, and object pronouns usually precede the verb.-Personal pronouns:...
.
- It introduces infinitiveInfinitiveIn grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
s after many verbs, although this usage is infrequent, unlike with the English preposition to:- 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 personalisedAnthropomorphismAnthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
thing (pet, organization, vehicle):- Veo a María. = "I see María."
- Te quieren ver a ti. = "They want to see you."
- As an elementary preposition, a is a component of many compound Spanish prepositions, detailed in section 2.
Prepositional contraction: al (“to the”, “to”) is the contraction formed with a and el (“the”), the masculine definite article, yet the contraction is waived when the article is part of a title:
-
- Voy al país de mis sueños = "I am going to the country of my dreams."
- Lo voy a mandar a El País = "I am going to send it to [the newspaper] El País.”
con
Con, derives from the Latin CVM (“with”), is an idiosyncratic preposition that combines with the personal pronouns mí, ti, and sí as the forms: conmigo (“with me”), contigo (“with you”), and consigo (“with her-, himself”). Linguistically, the denotation of the -go suffix originally was inherent to con, that is — in Latin, CVM was often placed after its pronoun, thus the MECVM, TECVM, SECVM, et cetera, usages. This popular LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
usage gave Spanish the migo, tigo, and sigo, and the nosco and vosco forms, their usages now lost; like-wise the denotations of the -go and -co suffixes, in the event, speakers redundantly prefixed con- to these words, hence this Spanish prepositional usage. (see: inflected preposition
Inflected preposition
In some languages, an inflected preposition, or conjugated preposition, is a word formed from the contraction of a preposition with a personal pronoun. For instance, in Scottish Gaelic, to say "before him," one can not say *, but , which historically developed from a fusion of pronoun and...
)
- Ven conmigo y con él ahora = "Come with me and him now."
- Iré a la fiesta con vosotras = "I will go to the party with you."
- Es raro llevar un billete de 200€ consigo = "It is unusual to carry a €200 note on oneself."
This syntactical
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
reversion also occurs in the Italian language, wherein one can say con me, con te, and con sé, or, in the archaic style, meco, teco, and seco.
de
De, derives from the Latin DE (“of" and "from"):- Es la más famosa de todas = "She is the most famous
[one] of all[of them]. " - Soy de Madrid = "I am from Madrid."
The preposition de is equivalent to the English apostrophe-“s” ( ’s) possessive construction; for example:
- El clima cálido de España = "Spain's warm climate."
- La hermana de David = "David's sister."
- Ese libro es del professor = "That is the teacher's book."
Prepositional contractions: When de is followed by the masculine definite article
Article (grammar)
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the and a/an, and some...
el (“the”), they form the contraction del (“of the”), however, de does not contract to del when followed by the homophonous
Homophone
A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose and rose , or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two, and too. Homophones that are spelled the same are also both homographs and homonyms...
personal pronoun
Pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun , such as, in English, the words it and he...
él (“he”) or a proper noun, thus:
- Soy pariente de él, del alcalde de El EscorialEl EscorialThe Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial is a historical residence of the king of Spain, in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, about 45 kilometres northwest of the capital, Madrid, in Spain. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, royal palace, museum, and...
, "I am a relative of he, of the mayor of El Escorial."
Prepositional typography: the upper-case form DE was configured as the siglum
Scribal abbreviation
Scribal abbreviations are the abbreviations used by ancient and mediæval scribes writing in Latin and, later, in Greek and Old Norse...
Đ — a typographic ligature adopted as a concise written and printed word-character, that originated as a lapidary
Lapidary
A lapidary is an artist or artisan who forms stone, mineral, gemstones, and other suitably durable materials into decorative items such as engraved gems, including cameos, or cabochons, and faceted designs...
scribal abbreviation
Scribal abbreviation
Scribal abbreviations are the abbreviations used by ancient and mediæval scribes writing in Latin and, later, in Greek and Old Norse...
.
Moreover, the preposition de is part of many compound prepositions, such as dentro de (“within”, “inside of”) and en contra de (“against . . .”); see section 2, below, for fuller description.
por and para
Por is a Latinate composite of PER and PRO, whereas para is a corruption (bastardisation) of por a; each is variously translatedTranslation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
to English with, and as, permutations of "for", thus, to Anglophone learners of Spanish as a foreign language, determining the appropriate preposition might (initially) prove confusing. In the event, Cassell's Contemporary Spanish dictionary generally indicates that por denotes “cause” and “reason” (retrospective), while para denotes “purpose” and “destination” (prospective); the following are common usages of these prepositions:
por
- Denotes a general sense of time and place:
- Lo perdí por ahí. = "I lost it thereabout."
- In exchange for, in place of
- Cambié mis euros por dólares. = "I exchanged my euros for dollars."
- Per (day, hour, mile, etc.)
- Pagan 1 euro por hora. = "They pay 1 euro per hour."
- By means of
- Es más rápido por la autopista. = "It is faster by the motorway."
- Cause (por = "because of", porque = "because")
- Me multaron por exceso de velocidad. = "They fined me for speeding."
- Mi jefe está enfermo y por él tengo que trabajar = "My boss is sick, and because of him, I have to work."
- For the sake, or benefit of
- Todo lo que hago, lo hago por ti. = "Everything I do, I do [it] for you."
- In favour of
- Yo voto por el partido de derecha. = "I vote for the right-wing party."
- By (passive forms)
- La nueva ley fue mal redactada por el partido gobernante = "The new law was badly written by the governing party."
para
- Purpose (intended for)
- Estas flores son para tí. = "These flowers are for you."
- Lo lavé para que lo guardaras. = "I washed it so you can keep it."
- Destination (towards) (informal, replaces a and hacia)
- Voy para el sur. = "I am going [to the] south."
- Until, by (a certain time)
- Para esta época del año siempre llueve. = "By this time of the year, it always rains."
- In order to
- Fuimos a la tienda para comprar tortillas. = "We went to the store to buy tortillas."
- To express a comparison and a contrasting
- Para una persona tan joven, se queja demasiado. = "For such a young person, he complains too much."
- In the expression estar para meaning ". . . to be about to [do something]."
- Yo estaba para salir, cuando sonó el teléfono = "I was about to leave, when the telephone rang."
In quotidian usage, the preposition para often is clipped
Clipping (phonetics)
In phonetics, clipping is the process of shortening the articulation of a phonetic segment, usually a vowel. A clipped vowel is pronounced more quickly than an unclipped vowel, and these clipped vowels are often also reduced...
to pa, as in the colloquial
Colloquialism
A colloquialism is a word or phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics. Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. as an identifier...
rustic usage: Amos p'alante. (“Le’s go forward.”), rather than the standard
Standard language
A standard language is a language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse. Alternatively, varieties become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for description in grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works...
Vamos para adelante. (“Let us go forward.")
según
Según derives from the Latin SECVNDVM (“according to”), and, unlike the English preposition according, a verb can follow it without a qualifier such as “what” (que).- Según (dice) él, es un buen libro. “According to him [his opinion], it is a good book.”
- Según convenga. “As required.”
Popular speech uses it alone, replacing depende (“depends”):
- Q: ¿Te gusta el cine francés? “Do you like French cinema?”
- A: Según. “It depends.”
Moreover, regional colloquial usage of the preposition según also expresses evidential mood
Evidentiality
In linguistics, evidentiality is, broadly, the indication of the nature of evidence for a given statement; that is, whether evidence exists for the statement and/or what kind of evidence exists. An evidential is the particular grammatical element that indicates evidentiality...
, indicating hearsay or non-commitment (“supposedly”, “it is said”).
- Según que tiene sida. “They say he has AIDS.”
sin
Sin derives from the Latin SINE (“without”):- Un té sin leche, por favor = "A tea without milk, please."
- Se metió en la cama sin despertarla = "He got in bed without waking her."
Combining the conjunction que to the preposition sin creates sin que (“without which”), a compound conjunction requiring the subjunctive mood
Subjunctive mood
In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
:
- Se metió en la cama sin que se despertara = "He got in bed without her waking."
- No se puede poner a esos niños en la misma habitación sin que se peleen. = "You cannot place those children in the same room without their fighting."
- Los ladrones entraron sin que los notase nadie = "The thieves entered without anyone noticing [them]."
Compound prepositions
Spanish replaces simple prepositions with compound prepositions, phrases such as: de acuerdo con (“according to”, “in accordance with”) in place of según; and en dirección a (“in the direction of”, “towards”) in place of hacia, akin to the English prepositional phrases: in front of, on top of, et cetera. Moreover, the concrete sobre (“upon”) is preferred to the ambiguous en (“on”, “in”); thus, Spanish expresses concepts, formally and informally, with compound- and simple- prepositions such as: después de (“after which”) rather than tras (“afterwards”), and para rather than con la finalidad de (“for the purpose of”, “to the purpose of”).Spanish compound prepositions are composed of:
- a preposition + noun + preposition:
- por causa de / a causa de / en razón de = "because of"
- sin perjuicio de = "notwithstanding", "without prejudice to"
- con respecto a = "with respect to", "regarding"
- a favor de = "in favour of"
- en contra de = "against . . ." (e.g. en mi contra, en tu contra, en su contra, etc.)
- en lugar de / en vez de = "instead of", "in lieu of"
- etc.
- or of an adverb + preposition:
- después de = "after"
- debajo de = "beneath", “underneath”
- antes de = "before" (i.e. “prior to”)
- junto a = "beside", "alongside"
- delante de = "in front of" and “[positioned] before”
- etc.
a por
In Spain, Spanish has the compound preposition a por meaning "in search of", used mainly with verbs of movement like ir and salir. This expression is not used outside Spain, and many speakers consider it to be incorrect, and prefer to replace it with por alone. According to the Real Academia EspañolaReal Academia Española
The Royal Spanish Academy is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, but is affiliated with national language academies in twenty-one other hispanophone nations through the Association of Spanish Language Academies...
, there is no normative
Linguistic prescription
In linguistics, prescription denotes normative practices on such aspects of language use as spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and syntax. It includes judgments on what usages are socially proper and politically correct...
reason to condemn the use of a por. In some contexts, a por expresses a clearer meaning than por:
- Subí por la escalera = "I went up the stairs" or "I went up the ladder"
- Subí a por la escalera = "I went up for the ladder"
para con
There also exists the rare usage, para con (demeanour “towards”, “against”, “with”, “unto” someone or something):- Es muy generoso para con los necesitados, He is very generous towards/ with the needy".
- No tengo pruritos para con ellos, "I have nothing [against] them".
Other Spanish compound prepositions are:
- tras de
- a fuerza de
- por junto a
- junto a
- encima de
- por en medio de
- detrás de
- en medio de
- en pos de
- por delante de
- con rumbo a
- con destino a
- a través de
Translating English postpositions to Spanish
The English languageEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
features three adpositions — the preposition (preceding), the postposition (following), and the circumposition (enclosing) — allowing constructions such as “in the box”, “on the airplane”, and “out of Africa”, as in Spanish, but the postposition: “three years ago” is Hispanically impossible usage as: “ago three years,” thus Spanish preposition’s exclusive function as such; these examples express like concepts using only prepositions:
- Hace tres años = “three years ago” (“It makes three years.”)
- Dentro de tres años = “three years hence” (“Within [a period] of three years.”)
- A tres kilómetros = “three kilometres away” (“To/Some three kilometres [from here].”)