Home > Spanish (Latin American) > Grammar > Introduction
spanish logo
Las Preposiciones Prepositions

When a person is the direct object of a verb, that person's name is always preceded by an a.

Vemos a un hombre gordo. We see a fat man.
Tú visitas a Claudia. You visit Claudia.
Busco a la señorita. I'm looking for the señorita.

The a isn't used after tener.lawyer

Tengo un tío quien es abogado. I have an uncle who is a lawyer.

The a is also used before geographical names that aren't modified.

Visitamos a Inglaterra. We are visiting England.
Visitamos a los Estados Unidos. We are visiting the United States.

Whenever the prepositions a or de are followed by the article el, the two fuse together.

Me gusta el pescado* del mar. I like the fish from the sea.
Yo quiero dar un regalo al maestro. I want to give a gift to the teacher.

*pescado refers to fish when you are going to cook or eat it. Otherwise it is un pez.

When a pronoun is the object of a preposition, normally a subject pronoun should be used.

Guillermo está sentado entre él y ella. Guillermo is seated between him and her.
Elena no puede tener éxito sin nosotros. Elena can't be successful without us.

This isn’t the case for the first and second person singular forms- and .

La serpiente está cerca de y José. The snake is close to you and Jose.
Prefiero que el diablo esté muy lejos de .
I prefer that the devil be very far from me.

In all other cases subject pronouns are used.

El bebé está con ella. The baby is with her.
Yo estoy con ellos. I am with them.

Con is special. In the first and second person singular forms, the preposition and pronoun combine and you get conmigo and contigo.

Mi hijo está conmigo. My son is with me.
El perro está contigo. The dog is with you.
El obispo está con él. The bishop is with him.
« previous page   next page »