The seventeen simple prepositions are not enough to describe space and time precisely. To say "in front of," "next to," "underneath," "across from," or "starting from," Spanish builds compound prepositions by combining a simple preposition (most often de, sometimes a) with an adverb or noun. The result is a fixed two- or three-word unit that behaves exactly like a preposition — delante de la casa, al lado del banco, después de comer. In peninsular Spanish these compound forms are the natural everyday choice; the corresponding simple prepositions (ante, tras, bajo) survive mostly in formal or literary register.
This page is the spatial and temporal reference. The pattern is the same throughout: adverb + de + noun/pronoun.
Spatial compound prepositions
The single most useful set. These are the words you reach for to describe where things are.
| Compound | Meaning | Formal/literary equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| delante de | in front of | ante (formal/abstract) |
| detrás de | behind | tras (literary) |
| al lado de | next to, beside | junto a (slightly formal, takes a) |
| cerca de | near | — |
| lejos de | far from | — |
| encima de | on top of | sobre (more abstract) |
| debajo de | underneath | bajo (formal/abstract) |
| dentro de | inside (of) | en (general containment) |
| fuera de | outside (of) | — |
| enfrente de / frente a | across from, opposite | — |
| alrededor de | around (encircling) | — |
| en medio de | in the middle of | — |
| a lo largo de | along, throughout | — |
| a través de | through, across | — |
| por encima de | above, over (without contact) | — |
| por debajo de | below, beneath (figurative) | — |
A few concrete examples to anchor the most frequent ones.
El coche está aparcado delante de la farmacia, lo veo desde aquí.
The car is parked in front of the pharmacy — I can see it from here.
Mi abuela vive al lado de un parque precioso, en pleno centro.
My grandmother lives next to a beautiful park, right in the city centre.
Las llaves están encima de la mesa de la cocina, donde siempre.
The keys are on top of the kitchen table, where they always are.
El gato se ha escondido debajo del sofá otra vez.
The cat has hidden under the sofa again.
Vivo cerca de la estación, voy andando al trabajo en diez minutos.
I live near the station — I walk to work in ten minutes.
Notice the obligatory contractions: al lado de + el → al lado del, delante de + el → delante del, cerca de + el → cerca del. The rule de + el = del applies inside compound prepositions exactly as it does elsewhere.
Why peninsular Spanish prefers the compounds
Modern Spain has settled into a clear division of labour between the simple and the compound forms. The simple prepositions ante, tras, bajo exist, but in everyday speech they sound formal or literary.
- Está delante de la casa — natural, everyday.
- Está ante la casa — odd in conversation; you'd see it in a newspaper or in fixed expressions like ante todo ("first and foremost") or ante el juez ("before the judge").
The same holds for bajo vs debajo de:
- El gato está debajo de la mesa — what people say.
- El gato está bajo la mesa — grammatical, but feels bookish. Bajo survives strongly in abstract uses (bajo presión, bajo la ley, bajo ningún concepto); see the page on the other simple prepositions for that side of bajo.
And tras vs detrás de / después de:
- La puerta está detrás de la cortina — everyday.
- La puerta está tras la cortina — literary.
The pattern: compound + pronoun
When the object is a pronoun, it follows the de of the compound, and you use the prepositional pronoun forms (mí, ti, él, ella, nosotros, vosotros, ellos) — not the subject pronouns.
Siéntate delante de mí para que pueda verte.
Sit in front of me so I can see you.
No te quedes detrás de él, no se va a dar cuenta.
Don't stay behind him — he won't notice.
Tenía el libro encima de la mesa, justo al lado de la lámpara.
I had the book on the table, right next to the lamp.
In casual peninsular speech you will sometimes hear delante mío, detrás suyo, encima nuestro — using a possessive pronoun where the standard form uses de + prepositional pronoun. These constructions are widespread, especially in Madrid and other urban areas, but the RAE considers them prescriptively incorrect. In careful speech and writing, stick to delante de mí, detrás de él, encima de nosotros.
Temporal compound prepositions
The same pattern extends to time.
| Compound | Meaning |
|---|---|
| antes de | before |
| después de | after |
| a partir de | starting from / from … onwards |
| antes de que / después de que | before / after (with subordinate clause) |
| al cabo de | after (a period of time) |
| a lo largo de | throughout (a period) |
Cenamos antes de las nueve para acostarnos pronto.
We have dinner before nine so we can get to bed early.
Después de comer, siempre echo una siesta corta.
After lunch, I always take a short nap.
A partir del lunes empieza mi nuevo horario.
My new schedule starts from Monday.
Al cabo de tres meses, ya hablaba bastante bien francés.
After three months, she was already speaking French pretty well.
These behave identically to the spatial ones: a de + a noun, infinitive, or pronoun. With same-subject infinitives, antes de / después de take the infinitive directly: antes de salir, llama a tu madre ("before leaving, call your mother"). With different subjects, you switch to antes de que / después de que + verb (subjunctive after antes de que, indicative or subjunctive after después de que depending on tense).
Junto a — the odd one out
Note the inconsistent member of the family: junto a takes a, not de. It means "right next to / right by," slightly more formal and emphatic than al lado de.
Aparcó junto a la entrada del edificio.
He parked right by the entrance to the building.
El cuadro está colgado junto a la ventana.
The painting is hung right next to the window.
Both junto a and al lado de work, but they have slightly different feels: al lado de is the everyday "next to" without any emphasis; junto a carries a sense of immediate proximity, often with a more formal or descriptive flavour.
Por encima de / por debajo de
Two compounds worth singling out because they have both literal and figurative uses.
- por encima de means "above, over" but with the implication of no contact or motion across: El avión vuela por encima de las nubes (The plane flies above the clouds). Figuratively, "above" in the sense of "more than": Está por encima de la media nacional (It's above the national average).
- por debajo de is the mirror image: "below, beneath," again with no-contact / figurative readings: Las temperaturas siguen por debajo de cero (Temperatures remain below zero).
Compare with the contact-implying encima de / debajo de: El libro está encima de la mesa (touching the table) vs El avión pasó por encima de la ciudad (over, not on).
Los precios están por encima de lo que esperaba, no me los puedo permitir.
The prices are higher than I expected — I can't afford them.
Dentro de — two meanings
Dentro de deserves a separate note because it has both a spatial and a temporal sense, and the temporal one is the one English speakers most often get wrong.
- Spatial: dentro de la caja — inside the box. Standard.
- Temporal: dentro de
- time = "in X time / X from now". Dentro de dos horas = "in two hours / two hours from now."
Dentro de dos semanas nos vamos de vacaciones a Mallorca.
In two weeks we're going on holiday to Mallorca.
Te llamo dentro de un rato, ahora estoy reunido.
I'll call you in a little while — I'm in a meeting right now.
The trap: English "in two weeks" can mean either "two weeks from now" (future) or "within two weeks" (any time within the period). Spanish dentro de dos semanas unambiguously means two weeks from now. To say "within / before two weeks are up," Spanish prefers en un plazo de dos semanas or antes de dos semanas.
A través de vs por
A subtle distinction: both can translate as "through," but they describe different things.
- a través de — through a medium, a barrier, an intermediary: a través de internet, a través de un amigo, a través de la ventana.
- por — through a route, a passage, a space: por el parque, por la calle Mayor, por la puerta principal.
Me enteré de la noticia a través de un compañero del trabajo.
I found out about the news through a colleague at work.
Entramos por la puerta de atrás porque la principal estaba cerrada.
We came in through the back door because the main one was closed.
Saying me enteré por internet is fine for "I found out on the internet" but ❌entramos a través de la puerta would be odd — for physical passage through an opening, por is the natural choice.
Common Mistakes
❌ El coche está delante mi casa.
Wrong — compound prepositions require de before the noun. Always delante DE.
✅ El coche está delante de mi casa.
The car is in front of my house.
❌ Siéntate delante mío para que te vea bien.
Colloquial but prescriptively wrong — possessive pronoun calque from English 'in front of mine'. Standard Spanish needs de + prepositional pronoun.
✅ Siéntate delante de mí para que te vea bien.
Sit in front of me so I can see you well.
❌ Vivo al lado desde el parque.
Wrong — al lado takes DE, not desde. ('Next from' is not a thing.)
✅ Vivo al lado del parque.
I live next to the park.
❌ El restaurante está arriba de la panadería.
Wrong meaning — 'arriba' alone means 'upstairs / above'. For 'on top of', use encima de.
✅ El restaurante está encima de la panadería.
The restaurant is above the bakery.
❌ Nos vamos en dos semanas.
Ambiguous — Spanish prefers 'dentro de' for 'X from now'.
✅ Nos vamos dentro de dos semanas.
We're leaving in two weeks.
Key takeaways
- Spanish builds compound prepositions on the pattern adverb/noun + de + noun: delante de, detrás de, al lado de, encima de, debajo de, cerca de, lejos de, dentro de, fuera de, alrededor de, enfrente de.
- In peninsular Spanish, compound forms are the everyday choice for literal spatial relations; the simple forms (ante, tras, bajo) are reserved for formal, abstract, or fixed uses.
- The de is obligatory — ❌delante mi casa is wrong; delante de mi casa is right.
- With pronoun objects, use de + prepositional pronoun: delante de mí, detrás de ti. Colloquial delante mío, detrás suyo are widely heard but prescriptively non-standard.
- Junto a is the family member that takes a instead of de: a slightly more formal "right next to."
- Temporal dentro de
- time = "in X time from now" — unambiguously future, not "within."
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
- Preposiciones: panorama generalA1 — An overview of the Spanish preposition inventory, their core meanings, and the fundamental rule that prepositions never map one-to-one to English.
- Otras preposiciones: bajo, ante, tras, hacia, hasta, desdeB1 — The 'minor' simple prepositions of Spanish — bajo, ante, tras (mostly formal), and hacia, hasta, desde (everyday) — round out the inventory beyond the core a, de, en, con, por, para.
- La preposición 'con'A1 — The Spanish preposition 'con' covers accompaniment, instrument, and manner — and is the only preposition that fuses with pronouns to form 'conmigo', 'contigo', 'consigo'.
- Usos abstractos de preposicionesC1 — Preposition + noun fixed expressions that work as adverbs. De pronto, en serio, por supuesto, a propósito, sin duda — organised by preposition, with register notes and the common construction-error traps.
- En para ubicación: 'en casa'A1 — Spanish uses 'en' for all three English location prepositions — in, on, at — collapsing them into a single word and using it for static location, transport, and (in peninsular Spanish) movement into a place with 'entrar en'.