In this Spanish Difficult Review quiz you will be looking at some of the more complex prepositions found in Spanish. You already know that prepositions are words that define the relationship that exists between different objects within a given sentence. A preposition also tells us what is happening and when it is happening.
Some of the more common prepositions in language include the words of: to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by and with. These prepositions are common because they are used quite frequently. However, there are prepositions that are not used as frequently, although they are still well known. These prepositions are classified as being complex prepositions.
Complex prepositions occur when two or more words are combined together to show a function. Although there are complex prepositions in English, Spanish has many more as it takes several words to say what just one word will say in English. Learning these Spanish complex prepositions becomes important when you want to be able to communicate properly with native speakers. So let’s look at a list of just a few of the complex prepositions.
SPANISH | ENGLISH |
---|---|
además de | as well as, in addition to, besides |
al lado de | beside |
antes de | before |
a pesar de | despite |
cerca de | near or close to |
de acuerdo con | in accordance with |
debajo de | under, underneath |
delante de | in front of |
dentro de | within |
fuera de | except for |
junto a (the J sounds like an H) | next to, right by, near |
lejos de (the J sounds like an H) | far, away from |
Did you notice that some of these have the same or very similar meanings? When it comes to which ones to use, it comes down to simple personal preference. All the same, it is good to know each way the words can be used so that when you hear them you will be able to recognize them.
The list above is a relatively short list so it shouldn’t be too difficult to remember them. Take it as slow or as fast as you like but take enough time to learn each one of them. Then, after you have studied the list and feel comfortable with these complex prepositions, it will be time to take the quiz. The quiz contains ten sentences with each sentence containing a complex preposition shown to you in all capitalized letters. Your task is to locate the correct Spanish translation without looking back at this introduction. Think you can do it? We know you can!