🔧 Grammar ★ Core Say it yourself

Prepositions and place adverbs

Locate people, objects and places relative to landmarks.

Most compound location phrases use de, which contracts with el to del. Use estar to locate a specific item.

Patterns to reuse
estar + en
be in/on/at
estar + cerca/lejos de
be near/far from
estar + delante/detrás/encima/debajo/al lado de
be in front/behind/above/below/next to
estar entre A y B
be between A and B
Watch out for
cerca el banco
cerca del banco

Cerca requires de; de + el becomes del.

entre del banco y…
entre el banco y…

Entre does not take de.

El móvil está encima de la mesa.
The phone is on top of the table.
ehl MOH-beel ehs-TAH ehn-THEE-mah deh lah MEH-sah
El banco está enfrente del mercado.
The bank is opposite the market.
ehl BAHN-koh ehs-TAH ehn-FREHN-teh dehl mehr-KAH-doh
La farmacia está entre el café y la panadería.
The pharmacy is between the café and bakery.
lah fahr-MAH-thyah ehs-TAH EHN-treh ehl kah-FEH ee lah pah-nah-deh-REE-ah
Vivimos lejos del centro.
We live far from the centre.
bee-BEE-mohs LEH-hohs dehl THEHN-troh
Phrases
ena la derecha dea la izquierda decerca delejos dedelante dedetrás deencima dedebajo deal lado deenfrente deentre
Contractions
de + el = dela + el = al
Try it out loud
spatial
Place five objects and describe their positions.
What to include

Use five different phrases.

map
Describe the location of four places on a simple map.
What to include

Use landmarks and del/al correctly.

correction
Correct five phrases missing de or contractions.
What to include

Check each multiword preposition.

Happy with all of this?
  • I can use at least ten location expressions.
  • I form al and del automatically.

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