Learning Spanish - Prepositions

The spanish A preposition was tricky for me to understand at first. It translates to the English to/at preposition. The reason it’s tricky is that Spanish grammar does not always translate to English.

But otherwise, most of the other prepositions have matched the English translation so far. e.g. con, de, en, sobre.

Definition

A means to or at. It’s a preposition which establishes relationship of a noun. In this example, it’s the object in a subject-verb-object agreement.

I say hi to ipwnponies

The subject is I, the verb is say hi and the object is ipwnponies. The preposition to is establishing a relationship to the object. In this example, it disambiguates the between other prepositions. i.e. “I say hi like ipwnponies”

The relationship changed from ipwnponies receiving the words to the statement bearing a resemblance in speech mannerisms.

How to Use

The common use is very straightforward substitution.

Nosotros vamos a la escuela

We go to [the] school

Tricky Example

Why is A tricky? It’s because many verbs in Spanish don’t match English subject-verb order.

a mi me gusta el pastel de chocolate.

to me, it pleases me, chocolate cake (transliteration).

chocolate cake pleases me (awkward but grammatically correct english).

That is, me gusta does not mean I like but closer to it pleases me. When you understand the use of the verb, then the a is no longer tricky. You were bamboozled by the incorrect translation and understanding of what is the subject and what is the object.

We can see this happend for de. In English, we just say ipwnponies’ blog but in Spanish it would be blog de ipwnponies. In awkward but grammatically correct English, this is the blog of/belonging to ipwnponies.

Or a ham sandwich becomes a sandwich of ham (sándwich de jamón).