Who doesn’t remember prepositions? It’s something they made you memorize at school and you ended up saying it on the fly. The bad thing about doing it by heart without understanding it is that it was forgotten over time. Therefore, in addition to using memory, it is better to understand it so that in this way, it is never forgotten even if time passes.

Usually 19 prepositions are spoken of, although currently the RAE (Royal Spanish Academy) approves 21. There are some Spanish-speaking places where some that are in disuse are also used, such as: cabe, SW. Others are also used that are not on the list of usual prepositions, such as: during, through, pro, versus and via. Although, as we said, the latter have been added to the list to complete it.

Updated preposition list (RAE)

• a
• ante
• under
• with
• against
• of
• since
• during
• in
• between
• to
• until
• by
• for
• by
• pro
• according to
• without
• about
• after
• versus
• via

Examples of sentences with prepositions

To better understand the prepositions we are going to give you an example of each:

• a: He went to see his mother a his aunt’s house.
• before: He was before the judge last Tuesday.
• under: I was looking for the book under the cabinet.
• with: I like to drink milk with cocoa every mornings.
• against: The hail struck against the windows with great force.
• of: The shirt I’m wearing is silk
• since: I haven’t seen you since March.
• during: Tonight he will be working in the office for 8 more hours.
• at: Entered at house through the window because he forgot the keys.
• between: Jealousy is common between siblings.
• to: We are thinking of going on a trip to the north of the country.
• until: I was in line at the supermarket until my sister arrived.
• through: She was studying through online classes and it was good.
• for: I have a present for Luis because today is his birthday.
• for: I gave him a book for his good grades this year.
• according to: He did the job according to the explanations from the teacher.
• without: I can’t live without my phone.
• about: The Grandma’s mobile was on the bed.
• behind: I was waiting for you behind the door of work.
• versus: Tonight the soccer team from my city faces versus the one from the capital.
• via: It has arrived at your house via the park.

Prepositions in a sentence

Prepositions in a sentence are invariable and unstressed words (except “according to ” ) that introduce a noun or a nominal group (preposition term) with which a complement is formed that depends syntactically on another element of the sentence. Currently in Spanish we have the following: a, before, under, with, against, from, from, during, in, between, towards, until, through, for, by, according to, without, on, after. They are also prepositions, although they are used less: pro (Luis is for human rights) and via (He flew to New York via Germany).

In addition, the following must be taken into account:

• Prepositions are words that do not change and have no gender (they are neither feminine nor masculine). They don’t have a number either.
• They are unstressed words because they don’t have an accent, except in “according to” and the new preposition: “vía”.

What prepositions are used for

The purpose of prepositions is to connect or unite with other words and thus better understand the relationship between those two words. For example, with the two words “car” and “Luis” you would put a preposition to understand it better; “Luis’s car”. On the other hand, if we use another preposition: “car for Luis” the meaning and the relationship of those two words changes. On the other hand, “from” tells us who owns the car, and “for” tells us that the car will be delivered to Luis.

Classification of prepositions

Next we go to classify prepositions so that you understand them better:

• Prepositions of place: a, de, en, entre. toward, through, behind.
• Prepositions of time: to with, from, from, in, to, through, on.
• Prepositions of cause: por.
• Prepositions of purpose: to, for.
• Prepositions of company: with.
• Mood prepositions: a, con, de, en, por.
• Instrument prepositions: a, con, de, en.

Contraction of prepositions

In order to have all the complete information about prepositions it is important to remember that “to” and “de” when they go before a specific article masculine phrases, like “el”, are contracted to form “al” and “del”.

Prepositional phrases

It is also important to remember that prepositional phrases are always composed of two prepositions or more words. For example: “in favor of”, “because of” or “next to”.