Spanish Prepositional Pronouns

Understanding Spanish Prepositions

Do you know what prepositions are? They indicate location as well as placement in time (such as "before" and "after"). They include words like “about, above, across, after, against, along, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond...” and so on.

Examples of prepositional phrases in use (with the prepositions in bold) include:

• The cat was on the mat.
• The trapeze artist hung above the crowd.
• There were many stars in the sky.

The Spanish prepositional pronouns are:

• mí - me
• ti - you
• usted - you
• él - him
• ella - her
• nosotros/as - us
• vosotros/as - you (plural)
• ustedes - you (plural)
• ellos - them
• ellas - them

How to pronounce Spanish Prepositional Pronouns

Sometimes, the object of a proposition (in the above examples, “mat,” “crowd,” and “sky”) is a pronoun like “you,” “me,” or “it.”

For example, look at the following sentences. The prepositional pronoun is in bold.

• He sat in front of me.
• They left before us.
• Everyone but them got to go.

In Spanish, the prepositional pronouns are exactly the same as the subject pronouns, with the exceptions of mí and ti. Look at the list below:

• mí - me
• ti - you
• usted - you
• él - him
• ella - her
• nosotros/as - us
• vosotros/as - you (plural)
• ustedes - you (plural)
• ellos - them
• ellas - them

Note that the word mí has an accent mark over the i, whereas ti has no accent mark.

Por ejemplo:

The Exceptions: Entre Tú y Yo, Conmigo and Contigo

Some combinations can sound a bit strange, though. Try saying, entre ti y mí "between you and me." The sequence of “ee” sounds can be hard to say!

For that reason, if you need to combine “you and me” in a phrase, use the subject pronouns instead:

entre tú y yo

Por ejemplo:

Another strange sound occurs when you want to say “with me” or “with you.” Try saying con mí or con ti. It’s hard to keep the words separated, isn’t it?

For that reason, if you need to say, “with me,” or, “with you,” use the following words:

conmigo or contigo

Por ejemplo:

Hopefully this cleared up some of your confusion. Feel free to take a look at lessons on other Spanish Prepositions:

• In this lesson, we’ll look at the Spanish prepositions a, de, en, hacia, and con.
• This lesson covers the Spanish prepositions desde, entre, sin, and hasta.
• The Spanish prepositions por and para are extraordinarily confusing in Spanish, learn how to use them here!

See you soon! ¡Hasta pronto!

Mauricio Evlampieff: Rocket Spanish