The Spanish Preposition
- He is an admirer of and a contributor to the "Times":
Es admirador del "Times" y colabora en ese periódico. - The man I spoke with and wrote to:
El hombre con quien hablé y al cual escribí.
However, we find the same construction as in English in cases of antithesis, as:
-
Con o sin él.
With or without him. -
El billete cuesta 20 pesetas desde o hasta Madrid.
The ticket is 20 ptas. from or to Madrid.
The Spanish Academy condemns this use, however.
As will have been noticed before, a preposition governing a word cannot be used after the word it governs, as:
- The work[1] which I referred to.
La obra a la cual referí.
-
Con enseñar se aprende.
By teaching one learns.
The preposition desde refers to "distance of time or space," as:
-
He marchado desde mi casa.
I walked from my house.
However, desde may be used instead of de before names of countries or cities:
-
Me escribieron desde Barcelona.
They wrote me from Barcelona.
Para may be used together with con = "towards":
- Fue muy bueno conmigo, para mí, or para conmigo.
"En acabando[2] lo haré" has the meaning of "I shall do it as soon as I have finished."
Sin--"without":
-
Poseía £10,000 sin los bienes raíces que heredó de su padre.
He owned £10,000 besides the real property he inherited from his father.
Según--"according to":
-
Según y como.
That depends.
And in a few other such phrases.
Popular Phrase: acordar | Spanish Resources for Kids | Conjugated Verb: brincar - to jump, to frolic [ click for full conjugation ]