Prepositions a and de

Preguntamos al profesor de español

These two prepositions are the most used ones in Spanish. This lesson is about different and popular use cases that they have.

Preposition a

The a preposition has two main meanings.

A. Action towards a person

Use a when an action is directed towards somebody, but not something.

Escucho música – I listen to music

Escucho a mi papá – I listen to my dad

Pido la cuenta al camarero – I ask the waiter for the check

Compramos regalos a los niños – We buy presents to the kids

The a preposition is used when no other preposition is needed.

There are some verbs that require a particular preposition, different from a.

Hablo con el profesor – I speak with the teacher

Pienso en María – I think about Maria

You will find more of these verbs in the next lesson.

Try it yourself:

I understand Julia

I understand this plan

We don’t know our boss

Do you buy flowers to your girlfriend?

B. Movement direction

When an object moves towards some place, put the a preposition before the place.

Mi marido vuelve a casa – My husband returns home

Yo voy al colegio – I go to school

These are some examples of verbs of movement:

ir – to go

venir – to come

viajar – to travel

llegar – to arrive

volver – to return

regresar – to return

volar – to fly

, etc.

When you need to say that an object is located somewhere, use en. To say that an object moves towards some place, use a.

Estoy en casa – I’m at home

Voy a casa – I go home

Vivimos en Madrid – We live in Madrid

Llegamos a Madrid – We arrive in Madrid

Don’t say: Voy en casa or llegamos en Madrid

Try it yourself:

I go to a shop

In the summer we will travel to Barcelona

On Saturday my parents will fly to Tenerife

To ask about a movement towards some place, start your question with adónde.

¿Adónde vas? – Where are you going?

Compare:

¿Dónde? – Where? (location, static)

¿Adónde? – Where to? (direction, movement)

Adónde is the only interrogative pronoun in Spanish, that is traditionally written in one word.

Try it yourself:

Where are you going on Friday?

On Friday I’m going to the village

Where are you going tonight? (vosotros)

Tonight we are going to the cinema

entrar en, a – to enter, to get into

The verb entrar is a bit different. In Spain it’s normally used with the preposition en. Although, it’s quite possible to use it with a.

more often: entro en casa

less often: entro a casa

Latin Americans prefer to use a with entrar. They always say: Entro a casa.

Try it yourself:

Mario gets into the house

Where does Mario get into?

Preposition de

You have already met this preposition before, as well.

El profesor de español – The Spanish teacher

Vengo del trabajo – I come from work

Sometimes it can be translated into English as “of” or “from”, but sometimes not. You should try to understand it from the Spanish point of view.

It’s widely used in Spanish and has many different use cases. Let’s see in more detail what it can normally mean.

possession

De is often used to define possession, belonging to someone or something.

La clase de español – The Spanish class

La abuela de Miguel – Miguel’s granny

¿De quién es el lápiz? – Whose pencil is this?

Very often the de preposition before a noun can substitute an adjective.

mesa de madera – wooden table

hoja de papel – sheet of paper

deberes de casa – homework

noche de verano – summer night

de + noun = adjective

This combination can be translated into English in different ways. When there is no suitable adjective in the language, use de + noun.

For example, Spanish has no adjective meaning “wooden”, so they say “mesa de madera”, which literally means “table of wood”.

Notice, that there is no article before the noun after de.

casa de campo – country house

moneda de oro – golden coin

papel de pared – wallpaper

ropa de mujer – women’s clothing

If you say “ropa de la mujer”, it will mean “the (determined) woman’s clothes”.

Try it yourself:

Ricardo’s car

spring flowers

clothing store

kitchen cabinet

Whose golden coin is this?

de meaning “from”

This is the second very common and simple role of de.

Soy de Chile – I’m from Chile

El lunes Javier vuelve de Argentina – On Monday Javier will return from Argentina

Este mensaje es de mi amigo – This message is from my friend

¿De dónde … ? – Where … from?

¿De dónde eres? – Where are you from?

¿De dónde vuelve Javier? – Where will Javier return from?

Now you know three interrogative pronouns with “dónde”:

¿Dónde? – Where?

¿Adónde? – Where to?

¿De dónde? – Where from?

Try it yourself:

Pedro works at a pharmacy

Where does Pedro work?

Pedro goes to the pharmacy every day

Where does Pedro go every day?

Pedro is coming from the pharmacy

Where is Pedro coming from?

de meaning “about”

Una película de amor – A movie about love

Leo un libro de aventuras – I read a book about adventures

Este artículo es de la historia de España – This article is about the history of Spain

Try it yourself:

What is that book about?

This book is about the war

What is this film about?

This film is about a boy, who lives in New York

The Spanish prepositions a and de can be used in many other different ways, which we haven’t talked about. We’ve just listed the ones, that can be useful right now. You will find out more about Spanish prepositions later in this course.