Prepositions and adverbs of place

Toledo está cerca de Madrid

In the previous lesson the only preposition of place that was used was en, meaning “in” or “on”.

La botella está en la nevera

El libro está en el estante

Instead of en you can use a bunch of other prepositions or adverbs that indicate the location of an object.

sobre – on

El libro está sobre la mesa – The book is on the table

Sobre is used to show explicitly that an object is located on a horizontal surface. It might be a table, a chair or a bed.

As you know, the en preposition can be used to say that an object is either inside or on something. For example, El libro está en la mesa. In this case, without any context you never know if the book is inside of the table or on the table. This is where sobre comes into play. To avoid confusion you can say El libro está sobre la mesa.

Try it yourself:

The bag is on the bed

The cat is on the chair

debajo de – under

El gato está debajo de la silla – The cat is under the chair

Debajo is an adverb that is used with the de preposition, which connects debajo with the following noun.

El libro está debajo de la mesa

Don’t say: El libro está debajo la mesa

Try it yourself:

The phone is under the bed

The pencil is under the magazine

delante de – before, ahead of, in front of

El coche está delante de la casa – The car is in front of the house

La cortina está delante de la ventana – The curtain is in front of the window

Delante de is used to show that an object is placed before another object, not behind it.

En la palabra “día” la letra “i” está delante de la letra “a” – In the word “día” the letter “i” is before the letter “a”.

Try it yourself:

Mr. González is standing in front of the shop

Is the couch in front of the TV?

enfrente de – in front of

This one is a more literal equivalent of the English “in front of”. It’s used to point out that an object is facing another object.

La escuela está justo enfrente de mi casa – The school is right in front of my home

Try it yourself:

The door is in front of the window

The tourists are standing in front of the painting

In many cases, delante and enfrente are used as synonyms. The difference is that delante is more like “an object is placed before another object” and enfrente is more like “an object is facing another object”.

detrás de – behind

Carlos está detrás de la puerta – Carlos is behind the door

¿Está el jardín detrás de la casa? – Is the garden behind the house?

Don’t forget to put the de connector before the next noun.

Try it yourself:

The bag is behind the chair

The window is behind the curtain

a la derecha de – on the right of

El dormitorio está a la derecha de la cocina – The bedroom is on the right of the kitchen

Paula está a la derecha de Ricardo – Paula is on the right of Ricardo

Try it yourself:

The mirror is on the right of the window

The bathroom is on the right of the living room

a la izquierda de – on the left of

Las tiendas están a la izquierda de la plaza – The shops are on the left of the square

La lavadora está a la izquierda de la nevera – The washing machine is on the left of the fridge

Try it yourself:

Where is the cafe?

The cafe is on the left of the beach

Silvia is on the left of Manuel

de + el = del

If you are attentive enough, you can notice that in all previous examples the de preposition was used only with feminine gender nouns. We did it on purpose, so that you wouldn’t be confused by the merged preposition del.

When de precedes el, a fusion happens and you must say del.

El perro está debajo del sillón

Las fotos están a la derecha del reloj

Try it yourself:

The boy is standing behind the tree

The painting is on the left of the shelf

Other articles don’t cause any merging.

cerca de – near, close to

La casa está cerca del río – The house is near the river

Portugal está cerca de España – Portugal is near Spain

Try it yourself:

The wood is near the mountains

Miguel’s work is close to the metro

al lado de – next to

El hotel está al lado de la playa – The hotel is situated next to the beach

Carolina está al lado de Pablo – Carolina is standing next to Pablo

Al lado and cerca are often used as synonyms. The only difference is that al lado de can mean that objects are positioned side by side.

Try it yourself:

The chair is next to the table

In the photo Alex is standing next to the teacher

lejos de – far from

La playa está lejos del hotel – The beach is far from the hotel

Francia está lejos de Argentina – France is far from Argentina

Try it yourself:

Malaga is far from Barcelona

The factory is far from the city

Are the shops far from the hotel?

encima de – above

El sol está encima de la montaña – The sun is above the mountain

Try it yourself:

The chandelier is above the armchair

The moon is above us

Palabras nuevas
New words

un álbum — an album

una pintura = un cuadro — a painting

una fuente — a fountain

el metro — the metro

un banquillo — a bench