Spanish prepositions

When we speak, we don't notice the words we use to connect sentences, but these particles are there, and they are important in grammar. These words are prepositions, something like the glue that holds words together and, with them, you can express the relationship between two ideas.

In Spanish there are a total of 23 prepositions, plus compound prepositions or prepositional locutions. So, if you want to know the list of prepositions in Spanish while you improve your knowledge of the language and prepare for your Spanish course in Spain, this is your article. You can also read this article in Spanish, French, Italian or Dutch.

What are Spanish prepositions?

Prepositions in Spanish, as in any other language, are words that establish a relationship between words in the same sentence. Their function is to connect nouns, pronouns or groups of words with other words to indicate a relationship of time, place, direction, cause or purpose in the same sentence.

On the other hand, there are Spanish prepositional locutions, a set of two or more words that function as a preposition. Although they are compound, they behave as a single preposition and have the same function as individual prepositions.

List of Spanish prepositions

Below you will find the list of Spanish prepositions:

• A (to/At)
• Ante (Before/In the presence of)
• Bajo (Under/Below)
• Cabe (Next to/Beside)
• Con (With)
• Contra (Against)
• De (Of/From)
• Desde (From/Since)
• Durante (During)
• En (In/On/Into/Upon/At/To)
• Entre (Among/Between)
• Hacia (Towards)
• Hasta (As far as/Until/Up to)
• Mediante (Through/By means of)
• Para (For/In order to)
• Por (For/Through/By)
• Según (According to)
• Sin (Without)
• So (Under)
• Sobre (On/Upon/About)
• Tras (After)
• Vía (Via/By way of)
• Versus (Versus/Against)

Although these are all the Spanish prepositions, some such as ‘cabe’ and ‘so’ are not used in spoken Spanish today; they appear sporadically in literary texts. Also, if you need a guide on how to use the prepositions por and para or the correct way to use contractions in Spanish, don't hesitate to visit our blog.

Spanish prepositional locutions

Regarding prepositional locutions, they are usually formed by 'preposition + noun + preposition'; but they can also be composed of 'adverb + preposition'. These are the most frequent Spanish prepositional locutions:

• A cargo de (In charge of)
• A causa de (On account of)
• A costa de (At the expense of)
• A falta de (For lack of)
• A fin de (At the end of)
• A fuerza de (On account of)
• A pesar de (In spite of/Despite)
• A propósito de (In spite of/Despite)
• A través de (Through)
• Al lado de (Next to)
• Alrededor de (Around)
• Antes de (Before)
• Cerca de (About)
• Con respecto a (With respect to)
• Con excepción de (Except for)
• De cara a (Facing)
• De conformidad con (In accordance with)
• De parte de (Of part of)
• Debajo de (Under)
• Delante de (In front of)
• Dentro de (Within)
• Después de (After)
• Detrás de (Behind)
• Encima de (Above)
• En bien de (Instead of)
• En lugar de (Instead of)
• En cuanto a (As for)
• En frente de (In front of)
• En medio de (In the middle of)
• En torno a (Around)
• Frente a (In front of)
• Junto a (Next to)
• Lejos de (Away from)
• Por causa de (Because of)
• Por culpa de (Because of)

Examples of Spanish prepositions

Once you have learned the complete list of prepositions in Spanish, you must put your knowledge into practice. To do so, here are some examples of Spanish prepositions in sentences for you to understand their use:

• El gato está sobre la mesa (The cat is on the table)
• Voy a la tienda (I'm going to the store)
• El regalo es para ti (The gift is for you)
• Vivo en una ciudad pequeña al lado del río (I live in a small town by the river)
• Salimos con nuestros amigos el sábado (We go out with our friends on Saturday)
• El tren pasa por el túnel (The train goes through the tunnel)
• El libro es de mi hermana (The book is my sister's)
• Llegamos a pesar de la lluvia (We arrived despite the rain)
• El banco está junto a la panadería (The bank is next to the bakery)
• Por culpa del tráfico llegué tarde a la estación (Because of the traffic I was late at the station)
• Hablamos durante el camino a casa sobre los planes del fin de semana (We talked on the way home about the weekend plans)
• La casa está cerca de la playa (The house is near the beach)
• Estoy en contra de esa decisión (I am against that decision)
• El perro duerme debajo de la cama (The dog sleeps under the bed)
• Los niños corren alrededor de la fuente (The children run around the fountain)
• Nos encontramos en medio de una tormenta (We are in the middle of a storm)
• Desde mi trabajo se puede llegar al centro en media hora (From my job you can get to downtown in half an hour)

An important fact to note about prepositions in Spanish is that, unlike colors or articles, they have neither gender nor number. For example, in the sentence above: “El gato está sobre la mesa” (The cat is on the table), the preposition is “sobre” (on), which indicates the spatial relationship between the cat and the table.

Thus, prepositions in Spanish are a fundamental part of grammar and have a fundamental role in oral communication. Keep learning Spanish with donQuijote and don't hesitate to keep practicing your knowledge to become a fluent Spanish speaker.