Spanish Prepositions List: All 23 With Examples

A Spanish prepositions list is short enough to memorize in an afternoon. Spanish has 23 simple prepositions, and unlike verbs there are no conjugations, no genders, and no irregular forms to learn. The words never change.

What makes prepositions hard is not the list. It is that they almost never map one to one onto English. This guide gives the full Spanish prepositions list with what each one actually does, then handles por versus para, which is where most students lose points.

Quick Answer

Spanish has 23 simple prepositions: a, ante, bajo, con, contra, de, desde, durante, en, entre, excepto, hacia, hasta, incluso, mediante, para, por, salvo, según, sin, sobre, tras and versus. None change form. Two contractions are mandatory: de plus el becomes del, a plus el becomes al.

Key Takeaways

• Spanish has 23 simple prepositions and none of them change form.
• A, de, en, con, por and para account for the large majority of real usage.
• De contracts with el to form del, and a contracts with el to form al. Those two contractions are mandatory.
• Por explains cause and means, para explains purpose and destination.
• Spanish verbs often require a specific preposition that English does not use at all.

Key Figures at a Glance

Sources: US Foreign Service Institute School of Language Studies difficulty rankings; Real Academia Española; Instituto Cervantes annual report on Spanish worldwide. Figures current as of July 2026.

The Complete Spanish Prepositions List

Older textbooks teach a list of 19 and leave out excepto, incluso, salvo, mediante and versus, which the Real Academia Española now includes. If your teacher uses the shorter list, both are defensible. The five extras are all straightforward.

The Two Mandatory Contractions

Two prepositions merge with the masculine singular article el. These are not optional or stylistic. Writing de el or a el instead is simply an error.

• de plus el becomes del. El libro del profesor, the teacher’s book.
• a plus el becomes al. Voy al banco, I am going to the bank.

The contraction does not happen with la, los or las, and it does not happen when el is part of a proper name. Vengo de El Salvador stays separate.

Por Versus Para: The Real Distinction

Both translate to for, which is why English speakers guess. The useful way to separate them is direction of reasoning. Por looks backward at a cause. Para looks forward at a goal.

One test that catches most cases: if you could replace for with because of, use por. If you could replace it with in order to or intended for, use para.

Prepositions That Do Not Translate

This is the category that costs students the most marks. Certain Spanish verbs demand a preposition where English uses none, or use a different one than the obvious choice.

These have to be learned as units. Do not learn pensar and then guess the preposition. Learn pensar en as a single item, the way you would learn a piece of vocabulary.

The Personal A

Spanish marks a human direct object with a, which has no English equivalent at all. Veo la casa means I see the house. Veo a María means I see María. Dropping the a in the second sentence is a grammatical error, not a stylistic choice.

This extends to pets treated as family members and to personified entities, which is why you will occasionally see it where you did not expect.

This guide is maintained by the LanguageBird academic team and reviewed by native-level instructors who teach the language daily. Last reviewed July 2026.

What Learners Get Wrong About Spanish Prepositions

The list is short. The errors are persistent because they rarely block understanding.

Frequently Asked Questions About Spanish Prepositions

How many prepositions are there in Spanish?

The Real Academia Española recognizes 23 simple prepositions. Older textbooks often teach 19, omitting excepto, incluso, salvo, mediante and versus. Compound prepositional phrases like delante de and a través de are counted separately.

What is the difference between por and para?

Por points backward at a cause, a means, an exchange or a route. Para points forward at a purpose, a recipient, a destination or a deadline. If for could be replaced with because of, use por. If it could be replaced with in order to, use para.

Which Spanish prepositions are used most?

De and a are by far the most frequent, followed by en, con, por and para. Those six cover the majority of real usage, so a beginner who learns them well can express most ideas before touching the rest of the list.

When do I use del and al?

Always, when de or a is followed by the masculine singular article el. De plus el becomes del, and a plus el becomes al. The contraction is mandatory except when el is part of a proper name, as in El Salvador.

Why does Spanish use a before people?

It is called the personal a and it marks a human direct object. Veo a María, I see María. It has no English equivalent, and omitting it is an error rather than an informal shortcut. It also applies to pets treated as family.

Are Spanish prepositions hard to learn?

The list is easy because the words never change form. The difficulty is that they rarely map one to one onto English, and that many verbs require a specific preposition. That part comes from exposure rather than memorization.

Get Your Prepositions Corrected as You Speak

Prepositions are the errors that survive longest, because they rarely block understanding. Say pensar de instead of pensar en and everyone still knows what you meant, so nobody corrects you, and the mistake sets.

LanguageBird teaches Spanish live and one to one with native-level instructors whose job includes catching exactly this. Middle school and high school students earn accredited credit for the coursework.

Contact us to book a first Spanish lesson.