Prepositional Pronouns
So what are prepositional pronouns?
They’re pronouns that follow prepositions.
Unfortunately, these days the next question
is “What are prepositions?” You shouldn’t
reach college without knowing what
prepositions are.
Unfortunately, many of you have.
Prepositions are words that show the
relationship between other words.
The boy with the gorgeous smile is my brother.
“With” shows the relationship between “boy”
and “smile.”
He lives in Alaska.
“In” shows the relationship between “lives” and
“Alaska.”
In English, prepositions are usually, but not always, short
words:
of
to
in
for
over
from
at
near
under
with
BUT
between
during
beside
outside
beneath
before
inside
A large number of Spanish prepositions have “de”
with them:
después de--after
debajo de--under
al lado de--beside
fuera de--outside
antes de--before
cerca de--near
dentro de--inside
entre—between
en—in, at, on
de—from
a—to
para--for
con—with
sobre—on, about
durante—during
por—for, by
In English, direct object pronouns (d.o.), indirect
object pronouns (i.o.), and prepositional
pronouns (p.p.) are all the same:
me
you
him,her,it
d.o.
us
y’all
them
i.o
p.p.
Juan sees me./Juan gave me the rose./Juan lives near me.
In Spanish, however, there are three different sets:
direct
me
nos
te
os
lo, la
los, las
indirect
me
nos
te
os
le
les
prepositional
mí
ti
él, ella, Ud.
nosotros
vosotros
ellos, Uds.
Let’s look at those again:
prepositional
mí
ti
él, ella, Ud.
nosotros
vosotros
ellos, Uds.
They look a little familiar. That’s because, with the exception of
“mí” and “ti,” they’re identical to SUBJECT pronouns:
yo
tú
él, ella, Ud.
nosotros
vosotros
ellos, Uds.
“Mí” probably also looks a little familiar. That’s
because you’ve had “mi.” Remember what it
means? “My”—mi casa. So the accent mark
is important. It makes the difference
between a prepositional PRONOUN (mí) and
a possessive ADJECTIVE (mi).
Let’s see what these pronouns look like in
context:
Juan habla con ella.
Yo compré un libro para ti.
Elisa vive cerca de mí.
Esa carta es de nosotros.
So it’s simple. Whenever you have a
preposition and need a pronoun after it,
use one of these:
prepositional
mí
ti
él, ella, Ud.
nosotros
vosotros
ellos, Uds.
And you’ll never guess how you’ll be tested
over it:
multiple choice
But there’s a catch.
You’ll have direct objects, indirect objects,
reflexives, subjects, and possessives
mixed in there.
So it might be a good idea to review them.
prepositional
mí
ti
él, ella, Ud.
nosotros
vosotros
ellos, Uds.
subject
yo
tú
él, ella, Ud.
direct object
me
te
lo, la
indirect object
nos
os
los, las
reflexive
me
te
se
nosotros
vosotros
ellos, Uds.
me
te
le
nos
os
les
possessive ADJECTIVES
nos
os
se
mi
tu
su
nuestro
vuestro
su
Click here to go to your first homework exercise.
Click here to go to your second homework exercise.
Below are links to other pronoun lessons:
Direct objects
Indirect objects
Reflexive
Subject
Possessive ADJECTIVES