Prepositions are words that we use in some languages preceding other words (hence the name pre-position, something that is positioned in front of other words, although in conversational English, it is frequent to see them at the end, as in “What are you talking about?”. Prepositions express a relation to other words which follow them, as in “the house at the corner”, or “the house with the balcony”. Since prepositions are functional words, it is really complicated to translate them in any language. We all agree about what is a table, or a chair, or what are we doing when we walk or run. So other words, like Nouns or Verbs, are more or less easy to translate, because a table is a table, and to run is to run, not to walk or to sleep. But what is “to” or “of” or “by”?
Let’s start with “to”. In other blogs, I will continue with more prepositions, but this brief and innocent “to” is more than enough for today.
1. Do not translate “to” in front of infinitives. What is an infinitive? Is the non conjugated verbal form, like “to walk”. We call them infinitives, because they don’t refer to any tense (present, past or future), it is like the infinite, do you see? In English, we put “to” in front of infinitives, but in Spanish, they have a particular ending (ar, er, ir), so there is no need for us to add anything.
to walk: caminar
to run: correr
to sleep: dormir
2. When you are talking about movement or action (which requires movement, after all), translate with “a”, in this way:
I am going to Barcelona tomorrow. Voy a Barcelona mañana.
I am going to work for two hours. Voy a trabajar dos horas.
3. When you are talking about the objective or the goal of your actions, translate with “para”:
I do everything than I can to explain this clearly. Hago todo lo que puedo para explicar esto claramente.
4. When you use the verb “tener” meaning obligation, it must be followed by “que”:
I have to finish this blog. Tengo que terminar este blog.
Remember that you have a blog about the verb “tener”, which is a very important verb with multiple functions. Do not assume that “tener” is “to have”, this is not correct.
5. When you place “to” between an adjective and an infinitive, translate it with “de”:
Is this difficult to understand? ¿Esto es difícil de entender?
Let your comments below and tell me if this was helpful. See you in the next blog.
