Spanish motion verbs come with a fixed preposition partner that English speakers regularly get wrong. The error is almost always the same: English uses to for direction, from for origin, into for entering, out of for exiting — and learners try to slot Spanish prepositions in by direct translation. But Spanish chooses prepositions based on what kind of motion the verb describes (destination, origin, path, enclosure), not based on what English happens to use. This page maps the eight verbs you'll use every day — ir, venir, llegar, salir, entrar, subir, bajar, pasar — and the prepositional logic behind each one.
The four prepositional jobs
Spanish prepositions for motion split into four broad roles:
- a — destination, the goal of the motion. Voy a Madrid.
- de — origin, the source of the motion. Vengo de la oficina.
- en — the container being entered or moved within. Entré en la habitación.
- por — the path or route. Pasamos por el parque.
Many motion verbs select more than one of these. Ir takes a (destination) but also de (origin) when you say where you're coming from: vengo de / voy de X a Y. Salir takes de (out of) for the place you're leaving and a for where you go after. The pattern below shows the most common combinations.
| Verb | Prepositions | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ir | a (destination), de (origin), en (means of transport) | Voy a la playa en coche. |
| venir | a (destination), de (origin) | Vengo de Madrid. |
| llegar | a (destination) | Llegamos a Sevilla a las ocho. |
| salir | de (out of), a (out to / for), para (for) | Salgo de casa a las siete, salgo para Madrid el lunes. |
| entrar | en (into — peninsular), a (LatAm) | Entré en el bar. |
| subir | a (onto, up to) | Subimos al ático. |
| bajar | de (down from, out of), a (down to) | Bajé del autobús, bajamos al sótano. |
| pasar | por (through, by), a (move to) | Pasamos por el centro. |
| volver / regresar | a (back to), de (back from) | Vuelvo a casa. |
| viajar | a (to), por (around / through), en (by means of) | Viajamos a Italia en tren. |
| partir | de (depart from), hacia / para (toward) | El tren parte de Atocha a las nueve. |
Ir vs venir: speaker-anchored
This pair maps almost perfectly onto English go vs come, with one subtle difference. In Spanish, venir implies motion toward where the speaker is now, while ir covers everything else. If you're on the phone with a friend and they ask if you'll join them at their place, English allows "I'll come over later." Standard Spanish prefers iré, not vendré, because from the speaker's perspective the friend's location is "there," not "here."
¿Vienes a mi casa esta tarde?
Are you coming to my house this afternoon? (speaker is at home — the listener moves toward the speaker)
Sí, voy sobre las seis.
Yes, I'll come over around six. (literal Spanish: 'I go' — the speaker moves toward the listener's location)
Vengo de la oficina, llego a casa en quince minutos.
I'm coming from the office, I'll be home in fifteen minutes.
This vengo a / voy a asymmetry catches English speakers all the time. The rule: anchor to the speaker's current physical location.
Entrar en vs entrar a: the peninsular preference
This is the most-asked question about motion verbs. Both entrar en and entrar a exist, and both are grammatical, but the regional distribution is sharp:
- Spain: overwhelmingly entrar en
- place. Entré en el bar, entró en la habitación.
- Latin America: overwhelmingly entrar a
- place. Entré al bar, entró a la habitación.
In Spain you will hear entrar a occasionally in informal speech, and it isn't wrong, but in writing and careful speech entrar en is the strong default. The logic some Spanish grammarians give is that en signals the enclosure (the place you're now inside) while a signals the destination (where you headed) — and entering is more about being inside than about reaching a goal. But honestly, the regional convention is the deciding factor.
Cuando entré en el restaurante, ya estaban todos sentados.
When I went into the restaurant, everyone was already seated.
No entres en mi habitación sin llamar.
Don't come into my room without knocking.
Salir de + place, salir a + activity, salir para + destination
Salir is more flexible than entrar because it can describe three different things: where you're leaving from, what you're going out to do, and where you're heading.
- salir de
- place — to leave a place. Salgo de la oficina a las seis.
- salir a
- activity / place — to go out (somewhere, to do something). Salimos a cenar.
- salir para
- destination — to set out toward, depart for. Salimos para Granada mañana.
- salir con
Salgo del trabajo a las siete y llego a casa sobre las ocho.
I leave work at seven and get home around eight.
¿Quieres salir a tomar algo esta noche?
Do you want to go out for a drink tonight?
Salimos para el aeropuerto a las cinco de la mañana, así que mejor acuéstate pronto.
We're leaving for the airport at five in the morning, so you'd better get to bed early.
Mi prima sale con un chico del pueblo desde el verano.
My cousin has been dating a guy from the village since the summer.
Subir a, bajar de: vertical and onto
Subir (go up, get on) and bajar (go down, get off) take a and de respectively, and they cover both literal vertical motion and "getting onto / off of" a vehicle.
Subimos a la cima en teleférico.
We went up to the summit by cable car.
Bajé del tren en la estación equivocada.
I got off the train at the wrong station.
¿Subes al coche o te quedas fuera?
Are you getting in the car or staying outside?
Bájate del sofá, que está recién tapizado.
Get off the sofa, it's just been reupholstered.
Note that subir al coche, al tren, al avión takes a in Spanish where English uses into / onto / in. For boats, subir a un barco. For animals you ride, subir a un caballo. The preposition is always a — Spanish treats getting on board as motion toward the surface or interior, not as entering a container.
Llegar a: never llegar en
Llegar (to arrive) takes a before the destination, full stop. The English temptation to say llegar en (arrive at / in a city) is a common error.
Llegué a Madrid de madrugada.
I arrived in Madrid at dawn.
Llegamos al hotel cansadísimos.
We got to the hotel exhausted.
El tren llega a Barcelona a las once en punto.
The train arrives in Barcelona at eleven sharp.
The same a is used regardless of the destination's size: a country (llegar a España), a city (llegar a Sevilla), a building (llegar al museo), a person (llegar a Marta). The preposition follows from the verb, not from how big the place is.
The only time en appears with llegar is when it specifies means of transport: llegar en coche, en tren, en avión. That's a separate prepositional slot.
Llegamos a Bilbao en coche, tardamos cuatro horas.
We got to Bilbao by car, it took us four hours.
Pasar por: the path verb
Pasar takes por for the route through which motion happens. Pasamos por el centro = we went through / via the city centre.
Para ir a tu casa, ¿paso por el puente o por la rotonda?
To get to your place, do I go via the bridge or via the roundabout?
Si pasas por la farmacia, ¿me compras aspirinas?
If you pass by the pharmacy, would you buy me some aspirin?
El autobús pasa por delante de mi casa cada quince minutos.
The bus goes past my house every fifteen minutes.
Pasar can also mean "to drop by" (pasar por casa de alguien) and "to move into" something (pasar a la sala). Context distinguishes them.
The aspect dimension: telicity
Beyond preposition selection, motion verbs split by aspect — whether they describe a punctual event with a clear endpoint (telic) or an ongoing process (atelic). This matters for tense choice, especially preterite vs imperfect.
- Punctual / telic: llegar, entrar, salir, partir, regresar. These describe a transition: you weren't there, now you are (or vice versa). They typically take the preterite for the moment of transition.
- Durative / atelic: ir, venir, viajar, caminar, andar. These describe motion in progress, which can stretch out. They take either preterite or imperfect depending on whether you're framing the trip as a completed event or as ongoing background.
Llegué a casa a las nueve.
I got home at nine. (punctual moment — preterite)
Iba a casa cuando me encontré con Marta.
I was on my way home when I ran into Marta. (motion in progress — imperfect as background to a preterite event)
Viajamos por Italia durante tres semanas.
We travelled around Italy for three weeks. (whole trip framed as completed — preterite)
Cuando éramos pequeños viajábamos cada verano al pueblo.
When we were little we used to travel to the village every summer. (habitual — imperfect)
Volver vs regresar: returning
Both mean "to come back." They're near-synonyms with slight register differences:
- volver — the everyday word. Used in all registers.
- regresar — slightly more formal and less frequent in Spain than in Latin America. Used in news and writing more than casual speech.
Both take a for the destination and de for the origin: volver a casa, regresar de Italia.
Volvemos a casa el domingo por la tarde.
We're coming back home on Sunday afternoon.
Cuando regresó de Estados Unidos, ya no era el mismo.
When he came back from the United States, he wasn't the same anymore.
Volver a + infinitive is a separate construction meaning "to do something again" (covered on its own page): Volví a llamarte = I called you again.
Common Mistakes
❌ Entré a la habitación sin hacer ruido.
Latin American usage; in Spain the preferred form is 'entrar en'.
✅ Entré en la habitación sin hacer ruido.
I went into the room without making any noise.
❌ Llegamos en Madrid muy tarde.
Incorrect — 'llegar' always takes 'a' for the destination, regardless of city size.
✅ Llegamos a Madrid muy tarde.
We got to Madrid very late.
❌ Voy en Madrid mañana.
Incorrect — 'ir' takes 'a' for destination. 'En' is only for the means of transport.
✅ Voy a Madrid mañana.
I'm going to Madrid tomorrow.
❌ Bajé el autobús en la última parada.
Missing preposition — 'bajar' takes 'de' for the thing you're getting off.
✅ Bajé del autobús en la última parada.
I got off the bus at the last stop.
❌ Salgo la oficina a las siete.
Missing 'de' — 'salir' from a place requires 'de'.
✅ Salgo de la oficina a las siete.
I leave the office at seven.
❌ Subí en el coche y arrancamos.
Wrong preposition — Spanish 'subir' to a vehicle takes 'a', not 'en'.
✅ Subí al coche y arrancamos.
I got in the car and we drove off.
❌ Venimos al cine, ¿quieres venir?
Awkward if the speaker isn't at the cinema yet — for motion away from the speaker's current location, use 'ir'.
✅ Vamos al cine, ¿quieres venir?
We're going to the cinema, do you want to come?
Key Takeaways
- Spanish motion verbs select prepositions by the kind of motion they describe: a (destination), de (origin), en (enclosure), por (path).
- Ir vs venir is anchored to the speaker's current location: venir = toward me here; ir = away from me or toward you there.
- In Spain, entrar en is the strong default; entrar a is the Latin American norm.
- Salir has three patterns: salir de
- place, salir a
- activity, salir para
- destination.
- activity, salir para
- place, salir a
- Llegar always takes a — never llegar en for the destination.
- Subir a / bajar de for vehicles and elevation; en with motion verbs only marks the means of transport.
- Pasar por for the route or path; pasar a for moving into a room or to the next step.
- Motion verbs split by aspect: punctual (llegar, salir, entrar) lean to preterite; durative (ir, viajar) take either tense depending on framing.
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- A para direcciónA1 — The preposition a marks the endpoint of motion in Spanish — destination, target, the place you are heading. Contrast with en (location) and learn the peninsular preference for entrar en over entrar a.
- Verbos con preposición 'de'B1 — A large family of Spanish verbs lexically selects 'de' — acordarse de, olvidarse de, alegrarse de, dejar de + infinitive, tratar de, enamorarse de — clustered around memory, emotion, cessation, source, and topic.
- Verbos con preposición 'en'B1 — A closed list of Spanish verbs requires the preposition 'en' before their complement — pensar en, insistir en, consistir en, fijarse en, entrar en. Most cluster around focus, insistence, conversion, and trust, and the English-Spanish preposition mapping rarely matches.
- irA1 — Full conjugation reference for ir (to go) — one of the most irregular and most frequent verbs in Spanish. Covers the suppletive present (voy, vas, va), the preterite that is identical to ser (fui, fuiste, fue), the imperfect borrowed from Latin (iba), the bare-bones monosyllabic imperative ve, and the cardinal periphrastic future ir a + infinitive that has displaced the morphological future in everyday peninsular speech.
- Verbos transitivos e intransitivosB1 — How Spanish classifies verbs by whether they take a direct object, and the dozen places this disagrees with English.
- Verbos modales: poder, deber, querer, solerB1 — The Spanish modal system — poder, deber, tener que, hay que, querer, saber, and soler — collected as one coordinated set of meanings.