Prepositions

Common prepositions in Spanish include a, de, en, and con. There are many verbs that require the use of prepositions. There aren’t really any patterns to when you would use prepositions. Sometimes common sense works, sometimes not.

Below there are sets of verbs that require prepositions and they are divided by preposition. Also, only the infinitive form of the verb may be used after verbs.

Verbs that are followed by a

acercarse a	to draw near to	empezar a	to begin to
acertar a	to happen to (by chance)	invitar a	to invite to
acostumbrarse a	to become accustomed to	ir a	to go to
aprender a	to learn to	llegar a	to succeed in
apresurarse a	to hurry up	negarse a	to refuse to
aspirar a	to aspire to	obligar a	to force
atreverse a	to dare to	ponerse a	to begin to
ayudar a	to help to	oponerse a	to oppose
comenzar a	to begin	regresar a	to ___ again
decidirse a	to decide to	resignarse a	to resign oneself to
dedicarse a	to dedicate oneself to	volver a	to ___ again
disponerse a	to get ready to

Me dedico a los estudios. → I am dedicated to my studies.
Te opones al racismo. → You are opposed to racism.

Verbs that are followed by de

acabar de	to have just	dejar de	to fail to, to stop
acordarse de	to remember to	encargarse de	to take charge of
alegrarse de	to be glad to	olvidarse de	to forget to
cesar de	to stop	tratar de	to try to

Acabo de comer. → I just ate.
Tratamos de hablar mejor. →  We try to speak better.

Verbs followed by en

consentir en	to agree to
consistir en	to consist of
convenir en	to agree to
empeñarse en	to be determined to
insistir en	to insist on
tardar en	to delay in
pensar en	to think about (someone)

 

Ella tardó en llegar. → She arrived late.
Yo insisto en hablar contigo. → I insist on speaking with you.

Verbs followed by con

amenazar con	to threaten to
chocar con	to crash into
contar con	to count on
contentarse con	to be content with
soñar con	to dream of
tropezar con	to run into

Tropecé con ella ayer. → I ran into her yesterday.
Sueño con ser astronauta. → I dream of being an astronaut.

Verbs used without a preposition before the infinitive

The following are verbs that seem like they should use prepositions, but they don’t.

deber	should
dejar	to allow
desear	to wish, to desire
esperar	to hope
hacer	to make
lograr	to succeed in
necesitar	to need
oír	to hear
poder	to be able to
preferir	to prefer
pretender	to attempt
prometer	to promise
querer	to want
saber	to know
soler	to tend to
ver	to see

Yo sé cantar. → I know how to sing.
Debes ir a la tienda. → You should go to the store.
Debes de ir a la tienda → You must be (gotta be) going to the store.
Tú puedes bailar bien. → You can dance well.

Personal A

Use the preposition a when the direct object of the verb is a specific person, a pet, or a pronoun referring to a person (alguien, nadie). It is not used with the verb tener.

Conozco a José. →  I know Jose.
Conozco Madrid. →  I am familiar with Madrid.
Veo la tele. → I watch TV.
No veo a nadie. →  I don’t see anyone.

 

Practice

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