Lesson 39

With Me, With You, With Him

Language Transfer Complete Spanish is by Mihalis Eleftheriou. Listen to the original audio first; use these notes for revision.

After prepositions, Spanish uses subject pronouns — con él (with he), para ella (for she), de nosotros (of we). This is different from English where we say "with him" not "with he."

Two exceptions: me → mí and te → ti after prepositions. Para mí = for me. De ti = from you.

Two more special forms: conmigo = with me, contigo = with you (informal). These are merged forms — you don't say "con mí."

Sin = without. Decir = to say / to tell (different from hablar = to speak/talk).

Prepositions are words showing movement, position, or direction: con, para, de, sin, en, a. Useful to identify them as a category, just like verbs and adjectives.

Key insight: Spanish uses fewer prepositions than English. Instead of "he buys it for me," you just say me lo compra — the me already covers "for me." Instead of "I speak to him," you say le hablo — the le covers "to him." Most of the time you're replacing prepositions with these small words.

New vocabulary

Spanish	English
con	with
sin	without
para	for
de	of / from
conmigo	with me
contigo	with you (informal)
mí	me (after prepositions)
ti	you (after prepositions)
decir	to say / to tell
un favor	a favor

Sentences practiced

Spanish	English
Con él.	With him.
Con ella.	With her.
Con ellos.	With them. (masculine/mixed)
Con ellas.	With them. (feminine)
Con nosotros.	With us. (masculine/mixed)
Con nosotras.	With us. (feminine)
Con usted.	With you (formal).
Con ustedes.	With you guys.
Para él.	For him.
Para ella.	For her.
Para ellos.	For them. (masculine/mixed)
Para ellas.	For them. (feminine)
Para nosotros.	For us. (masculine/mixed)
Para nosotras.	For us. (feminine)
Para mí.	For me.
Para ti.	For you.
De él.	From him.
De ella.	From her.
De mí.	From me.
De ti.	From you.
De ellos.	From them.
De nosotros.	From us.
De ustedes.	From you guys.
¿Es de ustedes?	Is it from you guys?
Es para ustedes.	It's for you guys.
Está con ustedes.	It's with you guys. (location = estar)
Me hace un favor.	He's doing me a favor.
Le hace un favor.	He's doing him/her a favor.
Quiero decir.	I want to say.
Le quiero decir.	I want to tell him/her.
Quiero decirle.	I want to tell him/her. (pronoun attached)
Lo quiero decir.	I want to say it.
Los compro.	I buy them. (the things)
Les compro.	I buy for them. (the people)
Compro para ellos.	I buy for them. (with preposition — less common)
Me lo compra.	He buys it for me. / He buys it from me. (context clarifies)
Me lo compran.	They buy it for me.
Me los compran.	They buy them for me.