Prepositional verbs in Spanish are a kind of verbs that require or are often followed by a preposition. Some of them are even formed with the reflexive pronoun se. This extraordinary nature makes them very difficult to be learnt by our students on Spanishviaskype.com.

The problem is not remembering the meaning, of course, they struggle to choose the accurate preposition. As you might know, prepositions are words that link words or phrases. They often provide the sentence with grammatical meaning: possession, direction, location, time… However, today we’ll see how the prepositions lose all these meanings when they are part of the prepositional verbs in Spanish.

Prepositional verbs in Spanish with the preposition “A”

The preposition “a” is often used with the sense of direction (voy a Madrid), time (El concierto es a las nueve) or the introduction of indirect and direct objects (Les presenté a mi novio a mis padres). Let’s see how some prepositional verbs in Spanish need this preposition without a specific meaning.

  • Obligar a: to make (sb) do (sth), to force. El policía obligó a levantar las manos al ladrón.
  • Renunciar a: to resign, to give up, to refuse. El presidente renunció a contestar más preguntas.
  • Acostumbrarse a: to get used to. No puedo acostumbrarme a los horarios españoles.
  • Recurrir a: to ask for help, to turn to. Para aprender español es mejor recurrir a buenos profesores.
  • Comprometerse a: to commit, to promise. Mi padre se comprometió a dejarme el coche si aprobaba mis exámenes.

 

The preposition “DE” is everywhere

The preposition “de” is one of the most used in Spanish. It often means origin (soy de España), possession (el libro del profesor) or material (la mesa es de madera). Nevertheless, it introduces phrases with prepositional verbs in Spanish.

  • Enterarse de: to notice, to find out. Ayer me enteré del accidente. ¡Qué desastre!
  • Encargarse de: to take charge of, to take care of. Yo me encargo de sacar al perro; no te preocupes.
  • Despedirse de: to say goodbye. Mi mejor amigo se fue ayer y no pude despedirme de él.
  • Presumir de: to show off. Mi vecino presume mucho de su hijo. Dice que ha estudiado en Harvard.
  • Carecer de: to lack. Muchas aplicaciones en Internet carecen de un buen método para aprender español.

The preposition “EN”, a good mate for prepositional verbs in Spanish

Let’s continue with the preposition “en”. As you know, it expresses location, mainly (Estoy en casa), time (En abril voy a hacer el examen DELE), but also mode (Voy al trabajo en metro). Now it’s time for more prepositional verbs in Spanish with the preposition “en”.

  • Insistir en: to insist. De tanto insistir en estudiar español, ahora hablo como un nativo.
  • Obstinarse en: to persist obstinately. Mi hermano se obstinó en estudiar Medicina y ya lleva doce años en la universidad.
  • Apoyarse en: to rely, to lean. Siempre me he apoyado en mi familia para conseguir mis objetivos.
  • Intervenir en: to take part, to intervene. El profesor intervino en la pelea que comenzaron varios alumnos.
  • Consistir en: to consist. El examen consiste en cuatro partes.

In conclusion, in order to learn all these prepositional verbs in Spanish, the only way is putting them into practice. If you want to learn more verbs like these and you start using them in conversational lessons, don’t hesitate and reserve some lessons on Spanishviaskype.