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Prepositions

How prepositions work in Spanish, English and Chinese.

Compare languages

English has many prepositions with subtle differences. Spanish prepositions combine with articles. Chinese uses 在zài, 从cóng, 到dào for most spatial/temporal relations, with postpositions in some cases.

Overview

Prepositions are small words that show relationships — location, time, direction, cause, and more.

Spanish: Fewer prepositions than English, but they combine with articles (al, del). Two tricky prepositions (por vs para) both translate as “for” but have distinct uses.
English: Many prepositions with subtle distinctions. Phrasal verbs (give up, look after, turn on) are a major challenge. Preposition stranding is allowed in questions.
Chinese: Uses a small set of core prepositions (在zài, 从cóng, 到dào, 对duì). Postpositions (上shàng, 下xià, 里lǐ, 外wài) often follow nouns to show location.

Spanish

Core prepositions

Preposition	Meaning	Example
a	to, at	Voy a casa.
de	of, from	Soy de Madrid.
en	in, on, at	Estoy en casa.
con	with	Voy con* María.*
por	for, by, through	Paso por* aquí.*
para	for, to, in order to	Es para* ti.*
sin	without	Sin dinero.
sobre	on, about	Sobre la mesa.

Contractions with articles

a + el = al: Voy al mercado. (to the market)
de + el = del: Vengo del mercado. (from the market)

No contraction with feminine articles:

a la escuela (to the school)
de la escuela (from the school)

Por vs para

	por	para
Cause/reason	Lo hice por* ti.* (for your sake)	—
Duration	Estudié por* dos horas.*	—
Movement through	Pasamos por* Madrid.*	—
Medium	Hablamos por* teléfono.*	—
Purpose/goal	—	Es para* estudiar.* (in order to study)
Destination	—	Salgo para* Madrid.* (bound for)
Recipient	—	Es para* ti.* (intended for)
Deadline	—	Lo necesito para* mañana.*

Preposition before infinitive

Spanish uses prepositions to link verbs:

Voy a comer. (I’m going to eat.)
Acabo de comer. (I just ate.)
Empiezo a trabajar. (I start working.)

English

Core prepositions

Preposition	Example
in	in the room
on	on the table
at	at the station
to	to school
from	from home
with	with friends
for	for you
by	by car
about	about the movie
through	through the door
across	across the street
between	between us

Phrasal verbs

A phrasal verb combines a verb + particle (often a preposition) with an idiomatic meaning:

Phrasal verb	Literal	Idiomatic	Example
give up	give + up	surrender	Don’t give up.
look after	look + after	care for	She looks after* her sister.*
turn on	turn + on	activate	Please turn on* the light.*
run out of	run + out + of	exhaust	We ran out of* milk.*
put up with	put + up + with	tolerate	I can’t put up with* this.*

Important: The particle is not optional — look after is a single unit.

Preposition stranding

English allows prepositions at the end of questions and relative clauses:

Who are you talking to? (instead of To whom are you talking?)
The person I spoke with. (instead of The person with whom I spoke.)

Formal/written style prefers fronting the preposition. Informal/spoken style prefers stranding.

Chinese

Core prepositions

Preposition	Meaning	Example
在zài	at, in, on	在zài家jiā (at home)
从cóng	from	从cóng北běi京jīng (from Beijing)
到dào	to, until	到dào北běi京jīng (to Beijing)
对duì	to, toward	对duì我wǒ说shuō (speak to me)
给gěi	for, to (give)	给gěi你nǐ的de书shū (book for you)
跟gēn	with	跟gēn朋péng友yǒu去qù (go with friends)

Postpositions for location

Chinese uses postpositions after nouns to show location:

Postposition	Meaning	Example
上shàng	on, above	桌zhuō子zi上shàng (on the table)
下xià	under, below	椅yǐ子zi下xià (under the chair)
里lǐ	inside	房fáng子zi里lǐ (inside the house)
外wài	outside	门mén外wài (outside the door)
前qián	in front of	学xué校xiào前qián (in front of school)
后hòu	behind	车chē后hòu (behind the car)
旁páng边biān	next to	我wǒ旁páng边biān (next to me)

Pattern: 在zài + location + postposition

书shū在zài桌zhuō子zi上shàng。(The book is on the table.)
猫māo在zài房fáng子zi里lǐ。(The cat is inside the house.)

No preposition stranding

Chinese does not strand prepositions:

你nǐ跟gēn谁shéi说shuō话huà？(With whom are you speaking?)
❌ 谁shéi你nǐ说shuō话huà跟gēn (ungrammatical)

Comparison at a glance

Feature	Spanish	English	Chinese
Number of prepositions	Moderate	Many	Few
Combine with articles	Yes (al, del)	No	No
Phrasal verbs	No	Yes (extensive)	No
Preposition stranding	No	Yes (informal)	No
Postpositions	No	No	Yes (上shàng, 下xià, 里lǐ, 外wài)
Location marker	en	in/at/on	在zài + postposition
Direction marker	a	to	到dào
Origin marker	de	from	从cóng

Examples

In Context

Spanish	English	Chinese
Estoy en casa.	I’m at home.	我wǒ在zài家jiā。
Voy a la escuela.	I’m going to school.	我wǒ去qù学xué校xiào。
Vengo de Beijing.	I’m coming from* Beijing.*	我wǒ从cóng北běi京jīng来lái。
Sobre la mesa.	On the table.	在zài桌zhuō子zǐ上shàng。

Common mistakes

English speakers learning Spanish: Confusing por and para: Es por ti (because of you) vs Es para ti (it’s for you)
Spanish/Chinese speakers learning English: Ignoring phrasal verbs: look the word in the dictionary → look up the word
English speakers learning Chinese: Omitting 在zài: 我wǒ北běi京jīng → 我wǒ在zài北běi京jīng
English speakers learning Chinese: Using prepositions like English: 我wǒ在zài桌zhuō子zǐ → 我wǒ在zài桌zhuō子zǐ上shàng

Word Order: How prepositions fit into sentence structure
Questions: How prepositions behave in wh-questions across languages
Articles: How Spanish combines prepositions with articles
Classifiers: How Chinese location markers interact with noun classifiers

Examples

Location (in)

Destination (to)

Origin (from)

Direction (through/across)

por / a través de

Preposition + article combination

Yes (al, del)

Preposition stranding

Not allowed

Examples

Location (in)

in / at

Destination (to)

Origin (from)

from

Direction (through/across)

through / across

Preposition + article combination

Preposition stranding

Allowed in questions/relatives

Examples

Location (in)

在zài...里lǐ / 在zài

Destination (to)

到dào / 去qù

Origin (from)

从cóng

Direction (through/across)

通tōng过guò / 穿chuān过guò

Preposition + article combination

Preposition stranding

Not applicable

Comparison at a glance

Grammar concepts	Spanish	English	Chinese
Location (in)	en	in / at	在zài...里lǐ / 在zài
Destination (to)	a	to	到dào / 去qù
Origin (from)	de	from	从cóng
Direction (through/across)	por / a través de	through / across	通tōng过guò / 穿chuān过guò
Preposition + article combination	Yes (al, del)	No	No
Preposition stranding	Not allowed	Allowed in questions/relatives	Not applicable

Side-by-side comparison

Grammar concepts	Spanish	English	Chinese
Location (in)	en	in / at	在zài...里lǐ / 在zài
Destination (to)	a	to	到dào / 去qù
Origin (from)	de	from	从cóng
Direction (through/across)	por / a través de	through / across	通tōng过guò / 穿chuān过guò
Preposition + article combination	Yes (al, del)	No	No
Preposition stranding	Not allowed	Allowed in questions/relatives	Not applicable

Examples in context

Location (in)

Spanish

English

in / at

Chinese

在zài...里lǐ / 在zài

Destination (to)

Spanish

English

Chinese

到dào / 去qù

Origin (from)

Spanish

English

from

Chinese

从cóng

Direction (through/across)

Spanish

por / a través de

English

through / across

Chinese

通tōng过guò / 穿chuān过guò

Preposition + article combination

Spanish

Yes (al, del)

English

Chinese

Preposition stranding

Spanish

Not allowed

English

Allowed in questions/relatives

Chinese

Not applicable

Key Takeaways

Spanish: Fewer prepositions than English, but they combine with articles (al, del). Two tricky prepositions (por vs para) both translate as "for" but.

English: Many prepositions with subtle distinctions. Phrasal verbs (give up, look after, turn on) are a major challenge. Preposition stranding is all.

Chinese: Uses a small set of core prepositions (在zài, 从cóng, 到dào, 对duì). Postpositions (上shàng, 下xià, 里lǐ, 外wài) often follow nouns to show location. Chinese uses 在zài, 从cóng, 到dào for

Key concepts compared: Location (in), Destination (to), Origin (from).

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can English end a sentence with a preposition while Spanish cannot?

English allows preposition stranding: 'Who did you speak with?' In Spanish, the preposition must precede its object: *¿Con quién hablaste?* (*¿Quién hablaste con?* is ungrammatical). This is because English evolved from a language with case endings that were lost, while Spanish maintained a stricter head-complement order. Churchill allegedly joked about this: 'This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.'

How does Chinese express spatial relations without a large preposition inventory?

Chinese relies on a small set of prepositions (<ruby>在<rt>zài</rt></ruby>, <ruby>从<rt>cóng</rt></ruby>, <ruby>到<rt>dào</rt></ruby>) combined with postpositions (<ruby>上<rt>shàng</rt></ruby>, <ruby>下<rt>xià</rt></ruby>, <ruby>里<rt>lǐ</rt></ruby>, <ruby>外<rt>wài</rt></ruby>) to create precise location expressions: <ruby>在<rt>zài</rt></ruby><ruby>桌<rt>zhuō</rt></ruby><ruby>子<rt>zǐ</rt></ruby><ruby>上<rt>shàng</rt></ruby> (on the table), <ruby>在<rt>zài</rt></ruby><ruby>桌<rt>zhuō</rt></ruby><ruby>子<rt>zǐ</rt></ruby><ruby>里<rt>lǐ</rt></ruby> (inside the table). English needs separate prepositions for each: 'on,' 'in,' 'under,' 'behind.' Chinese achieves the same precision with combinatorial logic.

When should you use 'at' vs 'in' vs 'on' in English?

'At' marks a point: *at the bus stop, at 5 o'clock*. 'In' marks containment or general location: *in the room, in July*. 'On' marks surface contact or specific days: *on the table, on Monday*. These distinctions are lexicalized in English but not in Spanish (*en* covers all three) or Chinese (<ruby>在<rt>zài</rt></ruby> covers most). This is why prepositions are one of the hardest categories for non-native English speakers to master.

References

Nueva gramática de la lengua española — Real Academia Española / Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española, 2010
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language — Huddleston & Pullum, Cambridge University Press, 2002
A Comprehensive Grammar of the Modern Chinese Language — Li & Thompson, 1981

Last updated: June 4, 2026

Overview

Spanish

Core prepositions

Contractions with articles

Por vs para

Preposition before infinitive

English

Core prepositions

Phrasal verbs

Preposition stranding

Chinese

Core prepositions

Postpositions for location

Pattern: 在zài + location + postposition

No preposition stranding

Comparison at a glance

Examples

In Context

Common mistakes

Related topics

Examples

Examples

Examples

Comparison at a glance

Side-by-side comparison

Examples in context

Key Takeaways

Frequently Asked Questions

References