If a is the largest preposition-selecting family in Spanish, de is a close second. Me acuerdo de ti. Se olvidó de las llaves. Dejó de fumar. Trata de hablar más alto. Me alegro de verte. The de in these verbs is not directional — it does not mean "from" or "of" in any translatable way. It is lexically selected by the verb, exactly as a is selected by empezar and en is selected by insistir. You learn the pairing or you produce wrong Spanish.
The semantic clusters are looser than for a-verbs, but a few patterns repeat: memory and cognition, emotion and attitude, cessation (with infinitive), source and origin, and topic / subject. This page walks each cluster, with the peninsular usage notes and the English-mismatch traps.
The core inventory
| Cluster | Verbs + de |
|---|---|
| Memory / cognition | acordarse de, olvidarse de, darse cuenta de, percatarse de, enterarse de, dudar de, fiarse de, depender de |
| Emotion / state | alegrarse de, sorprenderse de, aburrirse de, cansarse de, hartarse de, arrepentirse de, jactarse de, presumir de, quejarse de, ocuparse de, encargarse de, enamorarse de |
| Cessation + infinitive | dejar de, acabar de, terminar de |
| Attempt + infinitive | tratar de |
| Source / origin | venir de, salir de, partir de, proceder de |
| Topic / subject | hablar de, tratar de (be about), saber de, entender de |
| Taking control | apoderarse de, adueñarse de, hacerse cargo de |
The first three clusters are by far the most useful at B1.
Cluster one: memory and cognition
These verbs describe mental contact with something — remembering it, realising it, finding out about it, doubting it.
Acordarse de — remember
¿Te acuerdas de cuando fuimos a Granada el verano pasado?
Do you remember when we went to Granada last summer?
No me acuerdo del nombre del restaurante, pero sé que estaba cerca de la catedral.
I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but I know it was near the cathedral.
Acuérdate de comprar pan, por favor.
Remember to buy bread, please.
Acordarse de is the everyday peninsular verb for "remember." It is pronominal (always reflexive: me acuerdo, te acuerdas) and always takes de before the thing remembered, whether that's a noun (me acuerdo de él), a clause (me acuerdo de cuando…), or an infinitive (acuérdate de cerrar la puerta).
A near-synonym is the simple verb recordar, which is not reflexive and does not take de: recuerdo el día, recuerdo que vinimos juntos. The two verbs are interchangeable in meaning, but their syntax is opposite. ❌Me recuerdo de… and ❌Acuerdo el día are both wrong.
Olvidarse de — forget
Me he olvidado de las llaves otra vez, ¿puedes abrir tú?
I've forgotten the keys again — can you open the door?
No te olvides de llamar a tu madre esta noche.
Don't forget to call your mother tonight.
Olvidarse de mirrors acordarse de: pronominal, with de. The simple verb olvidar exists and is used without de (olvidé las llaves), but in everyday peninsular speech olvidarse de is far more common.
Darse cuenta de — realise
No me había dado cuenta de que era tan tarde.
I hadn't realised it was so late.
Se dio cuenta del error en cuanto envió el correo.
She realised the mistake the moment she sent the email.
Darse cuenta de is one of the highest-frequency expressions in Spanish — used dozens of times a day in real conversation. The de is non-negotiable. A frequent learner error: dropping the de (❌me di cuenta que llegaba tarde). It must be me di cuenta *de que llegaba tarde*.
Enterarse de, percatarse de — find out, notice
Me he enterado de la noticia hace cinco minutos.
I found out the news five minutes ago.
No se percató de que le seguían.
He didn't notice he was being followed. (more formal)
Enterarse de is everyday peninsular for "to find out, learn (about)." Percatarse de is more formal, typical of journalism and writing.
Dudar de, fiarse de, depender de
Dudo de su sinceridad, lo siento.
I doubt his sincerity, sorry.
No me fío de él, ya me ha mentido tres veces.
I don't trust him — he's lied to me three times already.
Todo depende de lo que diga el médico.
It all depends on what the doctor says.
Fiarse de is the standard peninsular verb for "trust." The cognate confiar takes en, not de (confío en ti), and the two are not interchangeable: fiarse de + noun ("trust X") vs. confiar en + infinitive or noun ("rely on, count on").
Cluster two: emotion and attitude
When emotion is directed at something or about something, Spanish reaches for de.
Alegrarse de, arrepentirse de
Me alegro mucho de verte después de tantos años.
I'm so glad to see you after all these years.
Me arrepiento de no haber estudiado más en la universidad.
I regret not having studied more at university.
Se alegró de la noticia y nos invitó a una cena de celebración.
She was happy about the news and invited us to a celebratory dinner.
Cansarse de, hartarse de, aburrirse de
Me he cansado de discutir lo mismo todas las semanas.
I'm tired of having the same argument every week.
Estoy harta de oír las mismas excusas.
I'm fed up with hearing the same excuses.
Se aburre de cualquier cosa al cabo de dos días.
He gets bored with anything after a couple of days.
These verbs all share the pattern: emotion + de + cause. Highly productive.
Quejarse de, presumir de, jactarse de
Se queja del tráfico todas las mañanas como si fuera una novedad.
He complains about the traffic every morning as if it were news.
Presume de saber idiomas, pero la verdad es que solo chapurrea inglés.
He brags about knowing languages, but the truth is he only stumbles through English.
Presumir de is everyday peninsular for "to brag about." Jactarse de is the slightly more formal equivalent. Both require de.
Enamorarse de — fall in love with
Me enamoré de él en el primer viaje que hicimos juntos.
I fell in love with him on the first trip we took together.
Se enamoró de Valencia desde el momento en que pisó la ciudad.
She fell in love with Valencia the moment she set foot in the city.
This is the canonical English-Spanish preposition mismatch. English uses with (fall in love with), Spanish uses de (enamorarse de). ❌Enamorarse con is wrong, no matter how natural the English calque feels.
For contrast: casarse (to marry) takes con, not de: se casó con su mejor amigo. The two emotion verbs use different prepositions, which is yet another arbitrary pairing you simply memorise.
Ocuparse de, encargarse de — take care of
Yo me ocupo de la comida, tú encárgate de las bebidas.
I'll take care of the food, you take care of the drinks.
¿Quién se encarga de los niños mientras estáis fuera?
Who's looking after the children while you're away?
Both verbs mean "take responsibility for" or "handle." Ocuparse de is slightly more general; encargarse de implies a specific assigned task. Both take de.
Cluster three: cessation — de + infinitive
A small but extremely high-frequency cluster: verbs of stopping, finishing, or having just done an action.
Dejar de — stop doing
Dejé de fumar hace cinco años y no he vuelto a probar un cigarro.
I quit smoking five years ago and haven't touched a cigarette since.
Deja de quejarte, por favor.
Stop complaining, please.
No deja de llover desde el lunes.
It hasn't stopped raining since Monday.
Dejar de + infinitive is the standard way to say "stop doing X." Note the third example: no deja de + infinitive is an idiomatic peninsular shape meaning "keeps on doing X" — literally "doesn't stop doing X."
Acabar de — have just done
Acabo de llegar, dame cinco minutos.
I've just got here, give me five minutes.
Acababan de cenar cuando sonó el timbre.
They had just finished dinner when the doorbell rang.
Acabar de + infinitive is one of the most useful peninsular constructions: it means to have just done something. Acabo de llegar = "I've just arrived." Acabábamos de comer = "we had just eaten."
A second meaning of acabar de — "to finish (doing)" — is less common: acaba de comer y nos vamos could mean "finish eating and we'll go" (rare) or "he's just eaten and we're leaving" (common). Context disambiguates.
Terminar de — finish doing
Termina de leer ese capítulo y apaga la luz.
Finish reading that chapter and turn off the light.
Terminar de + infinitive means literally "to finish (the action of) doing X." It does not carry the recent-past meaning of acabar de — those two are not interchangeable despite the similar shape.
Cluster four: attempt — tratar de
Trata de hablar más alto, no te oigo bien.
Try to speak louder, I can't hear you well.
Estoy tratando de entender por qué está tan enfadado.
I'm trying to understand why he's so angry.
Tratar de + infinitive means "try to (do something)." It is interchangeable with intentar + infinitive (intento entenderlo) — but note: intentar does not take de. ❌Intentar de hacer algo is wrong. Tratar de with de, intentar without. Yet another arbitrary pairing.
Tratar de also has a second meaning — "to be about" — when followed by a noun: este libro trata de la guerra civil ("this book is about the civil war"). Same preposition, different sense.
Cluster five: source
Vengo de la oficina, llevo desde las siete de la mañana.
I'm coming from the office — I've been there since seven in the morning.
Salimos de casa a las diez y llegamos puntuales.
We left the house at ten and arrived on time.
El tren parte de la estación de Atocha a las nueve en punto.
The train departs from Atocha station at nine sharp.
These are the literal motion uses — de really does mean "from" here. They feel intuitive to English speakers because the prepositions line up.
Cluster six: topic and expertise
No quiero hablar de eso ahora, te lo cuento mañana.
I don't want to talk about that now, I'll tell you tomorrow.
Sabe mucho de vinos, le puedes preguntar lo que quieras.
He knows a lot about wine, you can ask him anything.
No entiendo nada de coches, lo siento.
I don't know anything about cars, sorry.
Hablar de = "talk about." Saber de / entender de = "know (a lot/nothing) about" — note these have a different meaning from bare saber and entender, which take direct objects. Sé matemáticas ("I know maths" — as a discipline I've studied) vs. sé de matemáticas ("I know about maths" — I'm knowledgeable in the field). The distinction is subtle but real.
Common Mistakes
❌ Me enamoré con él.
Wrong — enamorarse takes 'de', not 'con' (English calque from 'fall in love with').
✅ Me enamoré de él.
I fell in love with him.
❌ Me acuerdo el día perfectamente.
Wrong — acordarse always requires 'de'.
✅ Me acuerdo del día perfectamente.
I remember the day perfectly.
❌ No me había dado cuenta que era tan tarde.
Wrong — darse cuenta requires 'de' before a 'que' clause.
✅ No me había dado cuenta de que era tan tarde.
I hadn't realised it was so late.
❌ Estoy intentando de entenderlo.
Wrong — intentar does NOT take 'de'.
✅ Estoy intentando entenderlo.
I'm trying to understand it.
❌ Acabo terminar la cena, ya bajo.
Wrong — acabar takes 'de' before an infinitive.
✅ Acabo de terminar la cena, ya bajo.
I've just finished dinner, I'll come down now.
Key takeaways
- A large family of Spanish verbs lexically requires de before the complement. The de is not translatable as "of" or "from" — it is selected by the verb.
- The biggest clusters: memory (acordarse, olvidarse, darse cuenta, enterarse), emotion (alegrarse, arrepentirse, cansarse, enamorarse, ocuparse), cessation
- infinitive (dejar de, acabar de, terminar de), attempt (tratar de).
- Watch the English-Spanish mismatches: fall in love with → enamorarse de; trust → fiarse de (but confiar en); complain about → quejarse de.
- Intentar does not take de; tratar does. Intentar hacer vs. tratar de hacer. Don't conflate.
- Acabar de
- infinitive = "to have just done X" — one of the most useful peninsular constructions.
- Darse cuenta de que
- clause is one of the most error-prone for English speakers — the de is mandatory.
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- Verbos con preposición 'a'B1 — A broad set of Spanish verbs lexically selects 'a' before a complement — ir a, llegar a, jugar a (peninsular), aprender a, invitar a, empezar a — clustered around motion, inception, learning, influence, and games.
- De para posesión: 'el libro de Marta'A1 — Spanish has no apostrophe-s — possession is always expressed with 'de': el libro de Marta, la casa de mis padres, el coche del profesor. Word order is reversed from English.
- Verbos seguidos de 'de' + infinitivoB1 — Verbs that demand 'de' before an infinitive — acabar de, dejar de, tratar de, acordarse de — cluster around stopping, completing, remembering, and trying.
- Verbos seguidos de 'a' + infinitivoB1 — Verbs that lexically require 'a' before an infinitive — empezar a, aprender a, ayudar a, atreverse a — usually involve motion, initiation, learning or commitment toward an action.
- Verbos seguidos de 'en' + infinitivoB2 — A small but high-frequency set of verbs takes 'en' before an infinitive — insistir en, pensar en, tardar en, consistir en — clustered around focus, duration, and absorbing one's attention into an action.