Prepositions of Place

Spanish Grammar Rules

Prepositions of Place in Spanish

A preposition of place is used to show the relationship of two or more things in regards to location or position.

When translating To Be + Preposition in English (e.g. The dog is next to the tree), the verb Estar (in its correct form) is used before the preposition of place. (e.g. El perro está al lado del árbol).



Position of the preposition

In English a preposition sometimes appears at the end of a sentence, however in Spanish it is NOT possible to end a sentence with a preposition.

Prepositions in Spanish are always followed by an object (a noun or pronoun).

See the examples that appear below.

Prepositions of Place in Spanish with examples

al lado de = next to / beside

alrededor de = around

cerca de = near / close to

debajo de = below / under

delante de (= frente a / enfrente de) = in front of / before / ahead of

dentro de = in / inside / within

detrás de = behind

en (= dentro de) = in / inside

en (= sobre) = on / on top of

encima de = sobre = above / over / on / on top of

enfrente de = in front of /opposite

entre = between / among / in the midst of

frente a (= delante de algo / enfrente de) = in front of / opposite (facing)

fuera de = outside

lejos de = far from

junto a (= al lado de) = next to

sobre (= encima de) = on / on top of / upon



Be Careful…

You will notice that many of the prepositions end in the word DE.

If the following word is the article El (the) then we join the word DE with EL to create DEL.

Compare the following:

Try our game to practice DEL and DE LA after prepositions. (SOON)

The same happens with A + EL which are joined to create the single word AL.

Compare the following:

Other Expressions showing the position of something

A la izquierda de – on the left / to the left
A la derecha de – on the right / to the right
En la parte superior – at the top
En el centro – in the middle
En la parte inferior – at the bottom


Next Activities

Try our interactive game about Prepositions of Place in Spanish.

Try our games to practice prepositions with these contractions in Spanish:
Preposition + AL vs A LA
Preposition + DEL vs DE LA
Preposition + AL vs A LA vs DEL vs DE L

Ver nuestros apuntes en español acerca de las preposiciones de lugar.

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