A handful of very common Spanish verbs always take the preposition en before their object or complement. In English we often use a different preposition (or none at all), so these combinations have to be memorized one by one. The good news: once you've seen a verb like pensar en a few times, it sticks.
The core list
Here are the verbs you'll run into most often:
| Verb + en | English meaning |
|---|---|
| pensar en | to think about |
| creer en | to believe in |
| confiar en | to trust (in) |
| insistir en | to insist on |
| consistir en | to consist of |
| tardar en | to take (time) to, to delay in |
| quedar en | to agree on / to |
| participar en | to participate in |
| entrar en / a | to enter, to go into |
| influir en | to influence, have an influence on |
| fijarse en | to notice, pay attention to |
Pensar en — to think about
Be careful: pensar en means "to think about" (a topic, a person), while pensar de means "to think of" (an opinion), and pensar + infinitive means "to plan to."
Creer en and confiar en
Both use en, and both translate naturally with "in" in English.
Mi abuela cree en los milagros.
My grandma believes in miracles.
Confío en ti completamente.
I trust you completely.
Insistir en — to insist on
El profesor insiste en que lleguemos a tiempo.
The teacher insists that we arrive on time.
Notice that after insistir en que the verb goes into the subjunctive, because it's expressing a will or demand.
Consistir en — to consist of
Where English says "consist of," Spanish uses en:
El examen consiste en cuatro partes.
The exam consists of four parts.
Tardar en — to take (time) to
This structure is very useful in everyday Spanish. The pattern is tardar + (time) + en + infinitive.
El paquete tardó tres días en llegar.
The package took three days to arrive.
tardar en instead of trying to translate "to take" literally. "Me tomó una hora" also works in Latin American Spanish, but tardar en is the classic construction.Quedar en — to agree on
Quedar en means to reach an agreement about plans or a decision.
Quedamos en vernos el viernes a las siete.
We agreed to meet on Friday at seven.
Participar en and influir en
Muchos estudiantes participaron en la marcha.
Many students participated in the march.
La música influye mucho en el estado de ánimo.
Music greatly influences one's mood.
Entrar en vs entrar a
Spanish dictionaries traditionally list entrar en, but in most of Latin America the everyday form is entrar a. Both are correct and you'll hear them interchangeably. In Spain, entrar en dominates; in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and most of the region, entrar a is far more common.
Entramos al restaurante a las ocho.
We went into the restaurant at eight.
Why memorize these combinations?
There's no logical reason most of these verbs take en instead of de or a. It's simply how Spanish has evolved. The best approach is to learn each verb together with its preposition, almost as a single unit: pensar-en, confiar-en, tardar-en. That way, when you need the verb, the preposition comes along automatically.
For more verb-preposition pairings, see the full list of common combinations.
Related Topics
- Con: Accompaniment and InstrumentA1 — The preposition con expresses with whom, with what, and in what manner
- Common Verb + Preposition CombinationsB2 — A reference of common Spanish verbs that require a specific preposition before their object
- Other PrepositionsA2 — A survey of less-common single-word prepositions in Spanish, from ante to tras