Lesson 56

Where Prepositions Go in Spanish

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

Prepositions NEVER go at the end of a sentence in Spanish. "Where are you from?" = ¿De dónde eres? ("From where are you?"). "Where are you going?" = ¿A dónde vas? ("To where are you going?").

Working backwards from Estados Unidos: unidos → remove -ido → add -ir → unir (to unite).

La chica = the girl. El chico = the guy. Trabajar = to work.

"The girl I work with" = la chica con que trabajo. In Spanish, you can't end with the preposition, so you say "the girl with that I work." You have many options for "with that/which/whom": con que, con cual, con la cual, con la que, con quien — but que works for everything at this stage.

Cuál = which (one). Quién = who. Quiénes = who (plural).

Contractions: de + el = del, a + el = al.

Sentences practiced

Spanish	English
¿De dónde eres?	Where are you from?
¿A dónde vas?	Where are you going?
Vamos a Estados Unidos.	We're going to the United States.
La chica con que trabajo.	The girl I work with.
Es la chica con que trabajaba.	It's the girl I was working with.
La chica con que iba a la fiesta.	The girl I was going to the party with.
¿Cuál quieres?	Which one do you want?
No sé cuál quiere.	I don't know which one he wants.
No sé cuál quiere ver.	I don't know which one he wants to see.
¿Quién va?	Who is going?
¿Quiénes van?	Who (plural) is going?
¿Quién está aquí?	Who is here?
No sé con quién tengo que hacerlo.	I don't know with whom I have to do it.
No sé para quién tengo que hacerlo.	I don't know for whom I have to do it.
No sé por quién tengo que hacerlo.	I don't know because of whom I have to do it.