Prepositions in Spanish: 50+ Essential Verbs You Need to Know

Prepositions in Spanish are small words, but when they attach to verbs, they completely change the meaning of a sentence. You can’t say “I help my mom” without the preposition a (ayudar a). You can’t say “I forgot to call” without de (olvidarse de). And if you mix them up, you might say something completely different than what you meant.

The same verb can change meaning entirely depending on which preposition follows it:

• Habla con tus empleados — Talk to your employees
• Habla de tus empleados — Talk about your employees
• Habla por tus empleados — Speak for your employees

In this guide, you’ll learn the most common Spanish verbs with prepositions, organized by the preposition they pair with: a, de, con, por, and en. You’ll see each verb in context with real examples, and you can test yourself with a quiz at the end.

Let’s get started.

What Are Prepositions in Spanish?

Before we jump into the lists, it’s worth remembering why prepositions matter.

Prepositions are small words that connect ideas within a sentence and show relationships between people, places, actions, and objects. Although they may seem insignificant, choosing the wrong preposition can completely change the meaning of what you’re trying to say.

That’s why learning common verb-preposition combinations is such an important part of mastering prepositions in Spanish.

(If you need a deeper dive into Spanish prepositions themselves first, we have a separate post for that.)

Spanish Verbs with the Preposition A

The preposition a often indicates direction, movement, purpose, or a person receiving an action. Many common Spanish verbs require a before another verb or noun.

Infinitive verb	Verb with preposition	English equivalent
Visitar	Visitar a	To visit
Acostumbrarse	Acostumbrarse a	To get used to
Ayudar	Ayudar a	To help
Cuidar	Cuidar a	To take care of
Entrar	Entrar a	To enter
Ir	Ir a	To go to
Empezar	Empezar a	To start
Oler	Oler a	To smell like
Parecer	Parecerse a	To look like
Arriesgar	Arriesgarse a	To take the risk to/ Take a chance
Aprender	Aprender a	To learn

Sidenote:

With visitar, the preposition a is generally used when the direct object is a person. When talking about visiting a place, the extra a is not normally used. For example, “I’m going to visit Venezuela” would be “Voy a visitar Venezuela”, with no preposition before the place needed.

The same concept applies to ayudar + a, which is used when speaking about helping people. However, when you use a reflexive pronoun, for example to ask for help, you don’t say “Ayuda a mi”. Instead, you would say “ayúdame a”, which means “help me to”

Examples:

•  I visited my grandmother on Sunday – El domingo visité a mi abuela

• I’m going to visit my friend – Voy a visitar a mi amigo

• My son is used to walking to school – Mi hijo está acostumbrado a ir a la escuela caminando

• You must get used to your new boss –  Debes acostumbrarte a tu nuevo jefe

• I help the volunteers of the Church – Yo ayudo a los voluntarios de la Iglesia

• Help me to clean the garage – Ayúdame a limpiar el garaje

• I have to take care of my little sister tonight – Tengo que cuidar a mi hermanita esta noche

• Can you take care of my cats this weekend? – ¿Puedes cuidar a mis gatos este fin de semana?

• I’m entering classes – Estoy entrando a clases

• They just entered the house – Ellos acaban de entrar a la casa

• We are going to the beach tomorrow – Vamos a ir a la playa mañana

• Are you coming to the meeting? – ¿Vienes a la reunión?

• I have to start doing exercise – Tengo que empezar a hacer ejercicios

• The party starts at 9:00 pm – La fiesta empieza a las 9:00 pm

• The house smells like flowers – La casa huele a flores

• Your perfume smells like coconut – Tu perfume huele a coco

• This hotel looks like one we visited before – Este hotel se parece a uno que visitamos antes

• You look like your mother – Te pareces a tu madre

• I’m going to take a chance and invest my money in that – Voy a arriesgarme a invertir mi dinero en eso

• She is learning to dance salsa – Ella está aprendiendo a bailar salsa

• I have to learn to drive cars –  Tengo que aprender a manejar carros

Spanish Verbs with the Preposition DE

The preposition de is commonly associated with origin, possession, cause, or separation. Many Spanish verbs use de to express emotions, completion, habits, and opinions.

Infinitive verb	Verb with preposition	English equivalent
Enamorarse	Enamorarse de	To fall in love with
Acabar	Acabar de	To  have just finished something
Arrepentirse	Arrepentirse de	To regret
Encargarse	Encargarse de	To take charge of
Olvidar	Olvidarse de	To forget to
Parar	Parar de	To stop
Tratar	Tratar de	To try to
Cansarse	Cansarse de	To get tired of
Desconfiar	Desconfiar de	To distrust
Despedirse	Despedirse de	To say goodbye to
Disfrutar	Disfrutar de	To Enjoy
Hablar	Hablar de	To talk about

Examples:

• She’s in love with that actor – Está enamorada de ese actor

• I fell in love with you – Me enamoré de ti

• I just finished having lunch – Acabo de terminar de almorzar

• They have just finished the relationship – Ellos acaban de terminar la relación

• I regret having eaten so much cake – Me arrepiento de haber comido tanto pastel

• Don’t regret what you said – No te arrepientas de lo que dijiste

• Take charge of talking with the workers – Encárgate de hablar con los trabajadores

• Can you take care of the children today? – ¿Puedes encargarte de los niños hoy?

• I forgot to congratulate her – Me olvidé de felicitarla

• Don’t forget to call your grandmother – No te olvides de llamar a tu abuela

• You need to stop eating so much – Debes parar de comer tanto

• Stop screaming – Para de gritar

• I will try to be ready quickly – Voy a  tratar de estar lista rápido

• Try not to drink too much alcohol at the party – Trata de no beber tanto alcohol en la fiesta

• I’m tired of swimming so much – Me cansé de nadar tanto

• He got tired of playing video games – Ya se cansó de jugar videojuegos

• I don’t trust people that my dog doesn’t like – Desconfío de las personas que a mi perro no le gustan

• He mistrusts a partner in his work – El desconfía de un compañero en su trabajo

• I’m going to say goodbye to everyone – Voy a despedirme de todos

• Go and say goodbye to your cousins – Ve y despídete de tus primos

•  I’m going to enjoy my vacation – Voy a disfrutar de mis vacaciones

• Enjoy your youth –  Disfruta de tu juventud

• Let’s talk about the sales of the month – Vamos a hablar de las ventas del mes

• Let’s talk about us – Hablemos de nosotros

Spanish Verbs with the Preposition CON

The preposition in Spanish con usually means “with” and is frequently used when talking about relationships, companionship, cooperation, or interaction with other people or things.

Infinitive verb	Verb with preposition	English equivalent
Casarse	Casarse con	To marry to
Soñar	Soñar con	To dream about
Contar	Contar con	To count on
Colaborar	Colaborar con	To collaborate with
Confundir	Confundir con	To confuse with
Encontrarse	Encontrarse con	To meet with
Enfadarse	Enfadarse con	To get angry with
Entretenerse	Entretenerse con	To entertain with
Divertirse	Divertirse con	Have fun with
Jugar	Jugar con	To play with

Examples:

• I married my best friend – Me casé con mi mejor amigo

• She is getting married with a red dress – Ella va a casarse con un vestido rojo

• Don’t watch that movie or you are going to dream with ghosts – No vean esa película o ustedes van a soñar con fantasmas

• I’m going to dream about your eyes – Voy a soñar con tus ojos

• You can count on us – Puedes contar con nosotros

• You can count on that – Puedes contar con eso

• You must collaborate with household chores – Debes colaborar con las tareas del hogar

• We can collaborate with food – Podemos colaborar con comida

• They confused me with a teacher – Me confundieron con una profesora

• Don’t  get confused with the exam questions – No te confundas con las preguntas del examen

• I met my neighbor in the market – Me encontré con mi vecina en el mercado

• I did not find anyone to go to the prom with – No encontré con quien ir al baile de graduación

• I’m angry with her – Estoy enfadada con ella

• The workers are angry with the boss – Los trabajadores están enfadados con el jefe

• I entertain myself with the netflix series – Me entretengo con las series de netflix

• They are entertained with anything – Ellos se entretienen con cualquier cosa

• We have fun with that movie – Nosotros nos divertimos con esa película

• I always have fun with my sister – Siempre me divierto con mi hermana

• I’m going to play with my friends – Voy a jugar con mis amigos

• Let’s play with the ball – Vamos a jugar con la pelota

Spanish Verbs with the Preposition POR

The preposition por is often used to express reasons, causes, representation, or concern. Many common Spanish verbs require por when talking about speaking on someone’s behalf, asking for someone or something, making decisions, or worrying about a situation.

Infinitive verb	Verb with preposition	English equivalent
Decidirse	Decidirse por	To decide on
Preguntar	Preguntar por	To ask for
Hablar	Hablar por	To speak for
Preocuparse	Preocuparse por	to worry about

Examples:

• They don’t decide on a dress – Ellas no se deciden por un vestido

• You have to decide for one of them – Tienes que decidir por uno de ellos

• I’m going to ask about these shoes – Voy a preguntar por estos zapatos

• Ask for your friends – Pregunta por tus amigos

• I can not speak for you – No puedo hablar por ti

• Politicians speak for their country – Los políticos hablan por su país

• Don’t worry about that, everything will be fine – No te preocupes por eso, todo saldrá bien

•  They are worried about their notes – Ellos están preocupados por sus notas

Spanish Verbs with the Preposition EN

The Spanish preposition en is often used to indicate location, time, participation, trust, or focus. Many common Spanish verbs use en when talking about thinking about something, trusting someone, participating in activities, or being in a specific place or situation.

 

Infinitive verb	Verb with preposition	English equivalent
Pensar	Pensar en	To think about
Divertirse	Divertirse en	To have fun at
Confiar	Confiar en	To trust in
Participar	Participar en	To participate in
Tardar	Tardar en	To take time to
Quedar	Quedar en	To stay at , To agree to do something

Examples:

• I can’t stop thinking about you – No dejo de pensar en ti

• Speak lower, you don´t let me think about anything else – Habla más bajo, no me dejas pensar en nada más

• We are going to have fun at the fair – Nos vamos a divertir en la feria

• They had fun at their cousins’ house – Ellos se divirtieron en la casa de sus primos

• Do not trust people who treat others badly – No confíes en personas que tratan mal a otros

• We must trust our children – Debemos confiar en nuestros hijos

• I want to participate in the poetry contest – Quiero participar en el concurso de poesía

• He participated in that play – El participó en esa obra de teatro

• It should not take long to arrive – No debe tardar en llegar

• They will take time to deliver the documents – Van a tardar en entregar los documentos

• We are going to stay in the house tonight – Nos vamos a quedar en la casa esta noche

• He agreed to help us with the moving – Él quedó en ayudarnos con la mudanza

Spanish Prepositions With Verbs: Final Thoughts

One of the quickest ways to sound more natural in Spanish is to stop learning verbs in isolation.

Instead of memorizing soñar, learn soñar con. Instead of memorizing pensar, learn pensar en. Instead of memorizing hablar, learn the different meanings of hablar de, hablar con, and hablar por.

Here are some memory tricks for prepositions in Spanish:

• A often indicates direction or motion (go to, help to, start to).
• DE often indicates origin or separation (fall in love with, forget to, get tired of).
• CON means with (dream about, play with, get angry with).
• POR often indicates reason or exchange (worry about, speak for).
• EN indicates location or thought (think about, trust in, participate in).

Many learner mistakes happen not because the verb is wrong, but because the preposition is. By paying attention to these common verb-preposition combinations, you’ll avoid awkward translations from English and start building sentences the way native speakers do.

And don’t worry if you mix them up from time to time. Even advanced learners occasionally have to stop and think whether it’s de, en, con, or por. With enough exposure, the correct choice becomes instinctive.

Now, let’s put everything you’ve learned so far to practice!

Spanish Verbs With Prepositions: Exercises

Fill the blank space with  the correct preposition

1. Tengo que ayudar ___  mi mamá con la lavandería

(I have to help my mom with the laundry)

2. Me olvidé ___ mandar el mail

(I forgot to send the mail)

3. Anoche soñé ___ dinosaurios

(Last night I dreamed about dinosaurs)

4. Voy a visitar ____ mis amigos del colegio

(I’m going to visit my school friends)

5. Yo hablaré ____ ellos

(I will speak for them)

6. Vamos a disfrutar  ____ el fin de semana

(Let’s enjoy the weekend)

7. ¿Puedes venir  ____ verme?

(Can you come to see me?

8. Vamos a encontrarnos  ____ tu madre en la escuela

(We are going to meet your mother at school)

9. Tenemos que pensar  ____ el nuevo plan de ventas

(We have to think about the new sales plan)

10. Debo decidirme  ____ una universidad y no sé cuál

(I have to decide for a university and I do not know which one)

11. Tienes que parar  ____ beber alcohol

(You have to stop drinking alcohol)

12. Ella se va a quedar ____ su casa

(She is going to stay at home)

13. Todo el tiempo me confunden  ____ mi madre

(All the time they confuse me with my mother)

14. Estoy cerca de tu casa, no me tardo  ____ llegar

(I’m near to your house, I won’t take long  to get there)

15. Vamos a hablar  ____ nuestros derechos y deberes

(We are going to talk about our rights and duties)

Answers

1. Tengo que ayudar a mi mamá con la lavandería
2. Me olvidé de mandar el mail
3. Anoche soñé con dinosaurios
4. Voy a visitar a mis amigos del colegio
5. Yo hablaré por ellos
6. Vamos a disfrutar del fin de semana
7. ¿Puedes venir a verme?
8. Vamos a encontrarnos con tu madre en la escuela
9. Tenemos que pensar en el nuevo plan de ventas
10. Debo decidirme por una universidad y no sé cuál
11. Tienes que parar de beber alcohol
12. Ella se va a quedar en su casa
13. Todo el tiempo me confunden con mi madre
14. Estoy cerca de tu casa, no me tardo en llegar
15. Vamos a hablar de nuestros derechos y deberes