Types of PREPOSITIONS in Spanish

The prepositions They are a set of words that appear very commonly in the Spanish language. Speakers who have this language as their mother tongue have them so ingrained in our language that we use them practically unconsciously.

However, those who enter the Spanish language as a foreign or second language are likely to find themselves faced with the difficulty of understanding these words and, above all, their use. In order to facilitate this task to those who need it, in a Teacher we will list all the types of prepositions in Spanish, accompanied by practical examples. Let's go!

As it might be obvious, before delving fully into the description of the different types of prepositions, we should start from the very basics. That is to say, describing what are the own prepositions. Well, a preposition is a word that appears invariably and immutable In a sentence, this means that it does not change according to gender (feminine or masculine) or number (singular or plural).

The function main of these words is that of

connect and underline connection that exists between at least two terms. As your own prefix pre- indicates, the preposition precedes or introduces that term that it relates, regardless of whether it is a word, complement or sentence. Therefore, we take prepositions as words that are responsible for ordering, organizing and joining elements of the sentence (or sentences, when they are compound or subordinate [what we know as clause]).

In fact, and in relation to what we have just seen above, the prepositional phrase (that is, the element that needs to be preceded by the preposition) must be a noun, adjective, adverb, participle or sentence with a substantive nature (that functions as a noun) or introduced by that with a tilde (which is usually an indirect question). It is important to also underline the fact that there are prepositional verbs, which require a preposition to complete their meaning (get used to, regret, rejoice at, ...).

Characteristics of prepositions

• In short, the prepositions they do not flex or vary
• They meet a grammatical basic function.
• Its use is essential when giving cohesion and coherence to the statement, especially in relation to subordination.
• Far from being ambiguous, prepositions are well classified in different types according to their function or nature.
• They are considered to exist 23 prepositions in Spanish, although a couple of them are currently in disuse. These 23 prepositions are: to, before, under, fits, with, against, from, during, in, between, towards, to, through, for, by, according to, without, so, on, after, versus and via.
• As for those that are currently in disuse, we would be talking about SW (whose meaning is something like "below") and fits (which means "near" or "next to"), which we only find in some set phrases or phraseological units.

In addition, in terms of their classification, and as we will develop below, we divide these 23 prepositions into different functions, which would be: cause, company, purpose, instrument, place, mode, belonging, time, among some others that are usually Add.

Once the prepositions and their function are known, we are going to go directly to their classification according to their nature in the clause or function, accompanying them with several practical examples. We must bear in mind, first of all, that many of them will appear in different types, since they fulfill different functions with different meanings depending on the context in which they are found.

Here we leave you a review of the types of prepositions in Spanish.

Prepositions of place or space

The prepositions that indicate place, space, direction or origin are:to, from, in, between, towards, through, above, after and low. Let's see an example of each of them:

• -“to”, When it fulfills the function of preposition of place, indicates direction or destination: I was to Juan's house the other day.
• -“from"As a preposition of place, it indicates a value of origin, either where he is from or where he comes from: The child was coming from his grandmother's house.
• -“on”Contextualized as a preposition of space specifies a concrete place: That beautiful cabin is on the forest that we have nearby.
• -“Come in”Is responsible for denoting a place that is in the middle of two or more things: His friends hid Come in the bushes to surprise him.
• -“toward”Expresses movement and direction in which the subject is heading: Sara was toward Pedro's house before coming.
• -“by”Is used to denote the transit in a place or, also, a nearby but not completely defined location. It can also be used to define specific parts: The tunnel passed by under the train tracks.
• -“upon"In terms of place, it is defined as the preposition that is responsible for expressing the value of" above "or" above ": Deposited the book upon the shelf.
• -“after"Would mean" behind "," after "or" after ": That pretty garden was hiding after his house.
• -“low”Gives the value of“ below ”: The cat rested low table.

Time prepositions

Another type of prepositions are those of time. The prepositions that indicate time are: to, from, from, on, to, by, after and until. Some examples of them would be:

• -“to”, Fulfilling its temporary function would mean the exact moment in which something happens. It also acts as a synonym for "to" with a temporary value, especially when it appears next to "from" (as we will see in the following example): They stopped him at the door of his house to the night.
• -“from”Is applied as a synonym for“ from ”. On many occasions it appears next to the preposition "a": We will be in class from the 8 to 12 hours.
• -“from”Is used to mark the start of an action within a marked time: From that I met you, I have done nothing but think of you.
• -“on”Marks the time remaining or expiration in which something will happen: The movie ends on two hours and half.
• ­-“for”Is a bit weirder as a preposition of time, but it usually refers to the moment of completion: For When we finish the job we should have the exhibition ready.
• -“by”Is usually accompanied by temporary nouns to determine them: I will have finished my thesis there by December next year.
• -“after"As in place, in time means" next "or" after ": After the storm comes calm.
• -“until”Defines the end of a long time. It is usually accompanied by "from" and they fulfill the same function as "from... to": I won't make it home until the night.

Causal preposition (of cause)

In this case we only find the preposition by with this prepositional value. This preposition is used to explain the cause of an event or to indicate the agent complement of a passive sentence (The car was fixed by Vicente's cousin). Regarding its causal function, we can take the following example: They kicked him out of high school by bad behavior.

Purpose or purpose propositions

With this function we return to the prepositions to and for and they determine a purpose, a purpose or an objective.

• -“to”Indicates to whom an object or action is directed: We gave him the gift to Elena.
• -“for”Indicates the function or purpose that is given to an object or action: I bought a new broom for sweep the garage.

Company preposition

The company ones are another of the types of prepositions in the Spanish language. In this case we are only left with the preposition with, which indicates company or union: I stay at home with my dog.

Modal prepositions (of mode)

These prepositions, which would be to, low, with, from, on, by and according, indicate the way in which an action is carried out and are closely related to the instrument prepositions, which we will see below. As for the examples and explanations of it, we have the following:

• -“to”Simply expresses the form of the action or specifies it: Does things to how fast and don't think.
• -“low”Indicates a way of addressing or approaching a topic: We should address the issue low a different perspective.
• -“with”Expresses the means by which an action is carried out: The car works with gasoline.
• -“from”Is used to express the nature, way of being or personality of someone, material from which an object is made and its content or a matter that is discussed: They spoke from things that weren't entirely interesting. / The house is made from wood.
• -“on”Expresses, above all, a factor in which someone stands out or stands out: Juan is very good on the sculpture on three dimensions.
• -“by”Also denotes the mode of execution of an action, or the reason or reason why something happens: We will do it by good morning or by the evil ones.
• -“according"Is used to express who says something, therefore, it would be synonymous with" agree ": That's what has happened according Alex said.

Instrument prepositions

These prepositions indicate what is used to perform an action, which are to, with, from and on:

• -“to”Is often used to express an instrument with fixed formulas: The blanket was sewn by my grandmother to hand.
• -“with"Is used with the same function as" a "but its nature does not propose a fixed structure: The boy cut out the figure with scissors.
• -“from”Expresses the nature or material of an object: That racket is from wood.
• -“on”Is also used as an instrument preposition: I go to class from German.

Deprivation preposition

The preposition without expresses deprivation, lack or lack of something or someone: I did it without no one else's help.

Opposition preposition

And, finally, the opposition is another of the types of prepositions. The preposition against is used to denote an opposition, whether of place or physical: He was not able to act against feelings.