Prepositions

`Preposiciones´

Prepositions are essential for connecting words and phrases, indicating relationships of place, time and more.

On this page, you’ll find a quick and easy guide with explanations and examples of common Spanish prepositions. This will help you understand how they work and how to use them naturally in sentences.

List of prepositions

a	to
ante	in front of, before
bajo	below, under
con	with
contra	against
de	of
desde	from
durante	during
en	in
entre	between/ among
hacia	for, to, forward
hasta	up to, until
mediante	by, with
para	for, to
por	for
según	according to
sin	without
sobre	above, over
tras	after, behind

Some prepositions can have their own meaning:

sin	lack, shortage
bajo	below, under
sobre	above, over, about
tras	after, behind
ante	facing, before, in front of

Other will have different meaning depending on the context:

CON
Estoy con Laura	I am with Laura
Corto el papel con las tijeras	I cut paper with the scissors
Sara me saludó con dos besos	Sara greeted me with two kisses

And finally some prepositions don’t mean anything on its own as a word:

a	Vi a Pablo en la calle	I saw Pablo on the street
de	Soy de Valencia	I am from Valencia

Below are presented some prepositions that are combined with conjunctions:

a	Espero a que me llames	I wait for your call
con	Me conformo con que apruebes	I’ll settle with you passing the test
de	Me alegro de que hayas venido	I’m glad (that) you came
desde	Desde que madrugo, duermo mejor	Since I get up early, I sleep better
en	Estoy de acuerdo en que dejes el trabajo	I agree that you quit the job
hasta	Te espero hasta que acabes	I wait until you finish
para	Te llamo para que me ayudes	I call you so you can help me
por	Tengo preocupación por que llegues tarde	I’m worried about you being late
sin	Lo he hecho sin que me ayudes	I have done it without your help

Prepositional phrases are those that are formed by two or more words that work as a preposition, as follows:

a causa de	because of
acerca de	about
con relación a	relative to, regarding
a fin de	in order to
de cara a	with regard to
de acuerdo con	according to
en relación con	in relation with
junto a	next to
respecto de	regarding

This content about Spanish prepositions will give you a solid base to start using them in different sentences and contexts.

For other important types of words, you can visit our Basics menu. You will find a list of common adjectives in Spanish among other topics.