Verbs with prepositions

What it is

Many Spanish verbs take a fixed preposition (régimen preposicional, "prepositional government"): pensar en (think about), soñar con (dream of), enamorarse de (fall in love with), casarse con (marry). The preposition belongs to the verb, so the best way to learn it is as one chunk, the way English speakers learn "depend on" or "look after".

The preposition often doesn't match English or Portuguese, and it doesn't change with what follows: pensar en means "think about" whether you're thinking about a person, a place or a plan.

How to form it

The preposition comes right after the verb and before its complement: a noun, a pronoun, an infinitive or a clause with que. After a preposition, yo and tú become mí and ti; with con they become conmigo and contigo.

The preposition stays whatever comes after it: Sueño con un viaje a la Patagonia (noun), Sueño contigo (pronoun), Sueño con viajar (infinitive).

Many of these verbs are pronominal (verbos pronominales): acordarse, olvidarse, enamorarse, casarse, despedirse, darse cuenta, parecerse, preocuparse. They need me, te, se… in every form: me enamoré, nos casamos, ¿te acuerdas?

In questions and relative clauses, the preposition moves to the front together with the question word or quien; it can never stay at the end, as it does in English: ¿En qué piensas? (What are you thinking about?), ¿Con quién sale Tomás? (Who is Tomás going out with?), la chica de quien se enamoró (the girl he fell in love with).

When to use it

Relationships and feelings. The key verbs of this unit describe how people feel and connect:

• Valeria se enamoró de un chico que conoció en una clase de salsa.Valeria fell in love with a guy she met at a salsa class.enamorarse de
• Tomás sale con una chica de Montevideo desde hace un año.Tomás has been going out with a girl from Montevideo for a year.salir con = date
• Mi prima se va a casar con su novio de la universidad.My cousin is going to marry her boyfriend from university.casarse con
• No confío en él porque nunca cumple lo que promete.I don't trust him because he never keeps his promises.confiar en

Other verbs from the table turn up in every conversation: Cuenta conmigo (count on me), Se fue sin despedirse de nadie (he left without saying goodbye to anyone), Mi mamá se preocupa por todo (my mum worries about everything), Me invitaron a cenar (they invited me to dinner).

Remembering and forgetting. Spanish has two patterns, and both are correct:

• pronoun + de: Me acuerdo de tu cumpleaños. Me olvidé de llamarte.
• no pronoun, no preposition: Recuerdo tu cumpleaños. Olvidé llamarte.

Mixing them is the mistake: recuerdo de and olvidé de don't exist. In everyday Latin American Spanish, acordarse de and olvidarse de are the most common. You'll also hear se me olvidó ("I forgot", roughly "it slipped my mind"), a pattern for B2.

Before que. A verb that needs a preposition keeps it before a clause: Me di cuenta de que estaba triste. Me acuerdo de que llovía mucho. A verb that doesn't need one never gets de: Pienso que tienes razón, Creo que viene, Me dijo que estaba cansada. Adding de here (pienso de que) is called dequeísmo; you'll hear it from some native speakers, but it's considered a mistake.

With an infinitive. Many of these verbs take an infinitive, just like empezar a and volver a: Aprendí a manejar a los treinta. Trató de llamarte (she tried to call you). Tardó una hora en contestar (it took him an hour to reply).

Contrasts and traps

• pensar en or pensar de? Pensar en is "think about"; pensar de only asks for or gives an opinion: ¿Qué piensas de la película?
• soñar con, never soñar de: Anoche soñé contigo.
• depender de, never depender en: Depende del precio.
• enamorarse de, not con or por: Me enamoré de ella.
• parecerse a ("look like"): Te pareces a tu mamá.
• Keep the pronoun: Me casé (not Casé), ¿Te acuerdas? (not ¿Acuerdas?).
• The preposition goes first in questions: ¿Con quién sales?, never ¿Quién sales con?

If you also speak Portuguese

Many pairs transfer directly: pensar em, confiar em, casar com, depender de. But apaixonar-se por is enamorarse de, parecer-se com is parecerse a and preocupar-se com is preocuparse por. Brazilian lembrar de and esquecer de become acordarse de and olvidarse de, with the pronoun, or recordar and olvidar with no preposition. And namorar alguém is salir con alguien.