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Choosing the Correct Spanish Prepositions to Use in a Sentence

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Spanish prepositions serve the same purpose in constructing sentences as do English prepositions. This makes them easy to understand, but using them correctly in a sentence can be one of the most challenging aspects of learning to speak Spanish. For example, the preposition?has several different meanings. It can mean ? or bout? Just as in English, in the Spanish language, a preposition is used to begin a phrase, which is then used as either an adjective or an adverb. It has to be followed by an object. Unlike English, a preposition never comes at the end of a word in Spanish.

Some of the common prepositions in Spanish are:

- a ?this can mean at, to or by means of

- antes de ?before

- bajo ?under

- cerca de ?near

- con ?with

- delante de ?in front of

- dentro de ?inside

- detras de ?behind

- encima de ?on top of

- enfrente de ?in front of

- entre ?between

- hasta ?until

- para ?for

- sobre ?over or about

As you will see from this sample list some Spanish words have the same meaning as in the case of the words for front of?and bout?

The key to using prepositions correctly is to think about the meaning that you wish to convey when you speak or write and then choose the appropriate word for the situation. It is quite common to use the Spanish words or?and ara?to mean or? Por is used mainly to express movement, in which case it means hrough? round? and bout? You can also use this preposition to denote time or to mean ecause?when you want to explain the reason for something. Para, on the other hand, is used to refer to the purpose of something, in which case it would translate as order to? It can also refer to a direction or you can use it when you refer to a specific time, such as in the following sentence: Necessito el regalo de navidad para manana ?I need the Christmas gift for tomorrow.

Other difficult prepositions for students of Spanish to understand and use correctly are the words ?and esde? Both of these words translate to mean rom? but they also mean ince?and ? The word esde?usually means movement from a location, but it can also be used in conjunction with other prepositions as in:

- desde arriba ?from above

- desde dentro ?from inside

- desde abajo ?from under

should be used to tell where you are from, even though it doesn sound right if you translate the sentence literally.oy de la Canada?is the proper way to say from Canada? but when you translate it literally it means of Canada?

When you are learning Spanish, you will make mistakes in how you use prepositions, just as you do in your native language. This is one of the nuances of the language that is often hard for native speakers to explain.