Use prepositions
What's a preposition? It's a word that starting a describing phrase in your sentence. Those describing phrases will typically include the preposition, a noun, and maybe an adjective or two. E.g., over the hill, through the woods, to grandmother's house, on the desk, in the drawer, under the table. The prepositions here are over, through, to, on, in and under.
In this lesson, we're going to look at six prepositions - a, en, de, con, por and para.
a
Use a to mean at or to.
I'm going to class.
Voy a clase.
La clase es a las dos.
The class is at two.
en
Use en to mean in or on.
You'll use en for even more in Spanish, because in Spanish you won't say you're at a place. You always say you're in a place.
I'm at home.
Estoy en casa.
I'm at school.
Estoy en el colegio. (or, en la escuela)
de
Use the word de when you want to say of or from.
You'll also use de instead of possessive apostrophes.
I'll explain. When you say you're going to your grandmother's house, or going to your friend's birthday party,
you won't use person-apostrophe-s, like you do in English. (e.g. David's car)
Instead, you say thing (car/party/house) of person (David/friend/grandmother).
David's car
el carro de David
my grandmother's house
la casa de mi abuela
my friend's party
la fiesta de mi amigo
con
What about the person with whom you're going? Use the preposition with - con.
I'm going with my brother.
Voy con mi hermano.
If you're saying with me or with you, you use compound words made from con:
conmigo
with me
contigo
with you
Every other use of con is normal:
con usted with you (polite)
con él with him
con ella with her
con nosotros / nosotras with us
con vosotros / vosotras with y'all
con ustedes with y'all (polite, or Latin American)
con ellos / ellas with them
por
Por may be the most useful word in Spanish. It can mean for, by, per, through, and because of.
Gracias por el regalo.
Thanks for the present.
Cinco dólares por el sándwich.
Five dollars for the sandwich.
Camino por el parque.
I walk through the park.
Hablo por teléfono.
I talk by phone.
para
Para usually means in order to, and for (somebody). There are a couple of other uses we'll cover later.
The present is for you.
El regalo es para ti.
In order to get an 'A', you have to study.
Para sacar una 'A', tienes que estudiar.
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