CAS: Lesson - Las preposiciones

A stylish lamp sits on top of a table, next to a chair. It points towards a book.Las preposiciones

Prepositions, or preposiciones, are words that affect nouns or pronouns. Prepositions describe the relationships of people, places, and things to the world. 

Exploring preposiciones

It’s important to understand how to use prepositions when talking about location in Spanish because prepositions can be used to express a relationship to a location. These prepositions are also called prepositions of place, or las preposiciones de lugar. 

Prepositions are important and often have many uses in the language. One of the common uses when learning Spanish is to use prepositions of place to say where household objects are located or to describe the position of the different rooms in the house, as in the sentences:

  • La cocina está frente a la sala. - The kitchen is in front of the living room.
  • La lámpara está encima de la mesa. - The lamp is on top of the table.

In addition, prepositions of place in Spanish can also be used for other purposes such as giving directions, as in the sentence:

El banco está junto al hospital. - The bank is next to the hospital.

Common Prepositions

Here are the most common prepositions and the prepositions you must learn in Spanish l:

  • A la derecha de - To the right of
  • A la izquierda de - To the left of
  • Al lado de - Next to
  • Debajo de - Underneath, under
  • Dentro de - Inside
  • Detrás de - Behind
  • En frente de - In front of
  • Encima de - On top of, above
  • Entre - Between

Video Lesson

A notebook and pen with ¡Toma apuntes! written on it.This video lesson will help you understand how and when to use prepositions. This is a muy importante lección (very important lesson). You may want to watch it twice! You will need tu cuaderno (your notebook), tu lápiz or bolígrafo (your pencil or your pen) and maybe tu botella de agua (your water bottle). Necesitas tomar apuntes (take notes) and complete practice activities. Remember, email your teacher if you have any questions after you complete a lesson. Your instructor is always available to help you and clarify any additional questions you may have before you move forward with your studies.

Video credit: FluencyProfe

A stick note with La actividad de práctica written on it.

Practice Activity

Was this video lesson helpful?

Take time to practice. All practice activities have unlimited attempts. Practice as many times as you need. When you complete practice activities, you are reviewing the lessons and preparing yourself to move forward in the course!

Complete the following practice activity. Be sure you do not forget to use correct end punctuation, capitalization, accents, and all diacritical marks in your response or points will be deducted.

NOTE: You are required to use information from this course to complete all practice activities. Additionally, fill-in-the-blank activities can be very particular: if an item is marked incorrect, double check that it wasn't something as minor as an extra space or a capital letter in the wrong place!

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