PREPOSITIONS

In this tutorial you will find:

• Preposition a
• Preposition con
• Preposition de
• Preposition en
• Preposition por

• Some verbs require a preposition before a following infinitive. The preposition may be:

•  

  a

  con

  de

  en

  por

  • • •            * The required preposition must be learned when the verb is learned.

        (Note: if you want to see the difference between Por & Para, please click here)

• The preposition a is required before a direct object that is a person. Compare:

•  

  Ves a Eduardo?	Do you see Eduardo?
  Ves el carro de Eduardo?	Do you see Eduardo's car?
  Conozco a los músicos pero no conozco la canción que cantan.	I know the musicians, but I don't know the song they are singing.

  
   

• The personal a may be used with indefinites like alguien and nadie when they are used as direct objects.

• The personal a is not normally used after tener.

• Personal a can also be used when refering to nonspecific people:

• The preposition a is required before the direct object in the sentence. The object can be a noun or a pronoun referring to a definite person.
• 
   

        BUT,
 
 

• Personal a after querer means to like, to be fond of, to love

• Verbs followed by a are usually verbs of action, of helping, teaching or learning, and inviting. Some common ones are:

• Others with a are:

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• With con

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• With de

•  

  to have just	acabar de	Acabé de ir a correr por el parque
  to be glad	alegrarse de	Se alegró de la llegada de su hermana
  to become tired	cansarse de	Ella está cansada de bailar
  to ceased, to stop	dejar de	Debes de correr todas las mañanas
  to try to	tratar de	Sonia está tratando de dejar de fumar

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• With en

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• With por

  Exercises
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Created by Silvana Mendez
Foreign Language Lab / University of Houston