If there is one rule about Spanish verb forms that admits almost no exceptions, it is this: after a preposition, the verb is always in the infinitive. Not the gerund, not the conjugated form, not the past participle — the infinitive. Antes de comer, sin pensar, para estudiar, después de llegar, en vez de hablar. Get this one rule right and you have eliminated an entire category of English-speaker errors in a single stroke.
The rule
In Spanish, a preposition can be followed by a noun, a noun phrase, a pronoun, or a verb in the infinitive form. It cannot be followed by a conjugated verb (without a subordinating word like que) or by a gerund. The infinitive is the only non-finite form Spanish lets sit after a preposition.
Lávate las manos antes de comer.
Wash your hands before eating.
Salió de casa sin decir nada.
He left the house without saying anything.
Estudio mucho para aprobar el examen.
I'm studying a lot in order to pass the exam.
Después de cenar damos un paseo todos los días.
After having dinner, we go for a walk every day.
In every one of these sentences, English uses an -ing form (eating, saying, having dinner) — and in every one, Spanish uses the infinitive. The Spanish gerund (comiendo, diciendo, cenando) is ungrammatical in these positions.
Why this rule exists
In Spanish grammar, the infinitive is the non-finite verb form that behaves nominally — it is what fills "noun slots" in a clause. A preposition takes a noun-like object (a noun, pronoun, or noun-like verb form), and the noun-like verb form in Spanish is the infinitive. The gerund, by contrast, is adverbial: its job is to modify how an action happens, not to fill argument slots. Putting a gerund after a preposition asks the gerund to do a job it is not designed for.
English collapses these two roles into one -ing form, which is why the mistake is so seductive: before eating (preposition + gerund) looks just like I am eating (auxiliary + gerund) on the surface. Spanish keeps the two roles strictly separate.
The most common preposition + infinitive combinations
These are the constructions you will meet on day one and use every day. Memorise them as units.
antes de + infinitive (before doing)
Hay que llamar antes de venir.
You should call before coming over.
Antes de salir, cierra todas las ventanas.
Before leaving, close all the windows.
después de + infinitive (after doing)
Después de cenar nos vamos al cine.
After having dinner we're going to the cinema.
Después de hablar con él, me sentí mucho mejor.
After speaking with him, I felt much better.
sin + infinitive (without doing)
Lo dijo sin pensar en las consecuencias.
He said it without thinking about the consequences.
Se fue sin despedirse de nadie.
She left without saying goodbye to anyone.
para + infinitive (in order to / for the purpose of)
He venido para ayudarte.
I've come to help you.
Necesito gafas para leer la letra pequeña.
I need glasses to read the small print.
por + infinitive (because of doing / for doing)
Le multaron por aparcar mal.
They fined him for parking badly.
Gracias por venir tan rápido.
Thanks for coming so quickly.
en vez de / en lugar de + infinitive (instead of doing)
En vez de quejarte, haz algo.
Instead of complaining, do something.
Decidió quedarse en casa en lugar de salir con sus amigos.
He decided to stay home instead of going out with his friends.
a pesar de + infinitive (despite doing)
A pesar de tener fiebre, fue al trabajo.
Despite having a fever, he went to work.
además de + infinitive (besides doing)
Además de trabajar, estudia por las noches.
Besides working, he studies in the evenings.
hasta + infinitive (until doing)
Estuvimos charlando hasta quedarnos sin batería.
We kept chatting until we ran out of battery.
A useful longer list
| Preposition / phrase | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| antes de | before | antes de salir |
| después de | after | después de llegar |
| sin | without | sin pensar |
| para | in order to | para aprender |
| por | because of, for | por llegar tarde |
| de | of, from (in many fixed phrases) | tengo ganas de ir |
| a | to (with verbs of motion + many lexical pairs) | voy a estudiar |
| en | in, on (with certain verbs) | insisto en saberlo |
| con | with, by (instrument) | con solo apretar un botón |
| en vez de / en lugar de | instead of | en vez de hablar |
| a pesar de | despite | a pesar de saber |
| además de | besides | además de ser |
| hasta | until | hasta terminar |
| con tal de | as long as / provided that | con tal de no molestar |
| a fuerza de | by dint of | a fuerza de insistir |
| al | upon (special — see al + infinitivo) | al llegar |
Every entry in that table follows the same rule: preposition + infinitive. There is no row in which the verb form changes to a gerund or a conjugated form.
The cardinal English-speaker error
The trap is straightforward and persistent. English uses -ing after every preposition: before eating, after arriving, without thinking, instead of going, on hearing the news. The Spanish ear hears the -ing and wants to reach for -ando / -iendo. Don't.
❌ Antes de comiendo, lávate las manos.
Wrong — preposition + gerund is ungrammatical.
✅ Antes de comer, lávate las manos.
Before eating, wash your hands.
❌ Salió sin diciendo nada.
Wrong — must be infinitive.
✅ Salió sin decir nada.
He left without saying anything.
❌ Para estudiando bien hay que dormir.
Wrong — must be infinitive.
✅ Para estudiar bien hay que dormir.
To study well, you need to sleep.
If you hear the English -ing coming after a preposition and you are about to translate, freeze your hand on the keyboard and ask: is there a preposition right before this -ing? If yes, the Spanish form is an infinitive, not a gerund.
Same-subject vs different-subject
The infinitive after a preposition is used when the subject of the infinitive is the same as the subject of the main clause:
(Yo) Salí sin (yo) despedirme.
I left without saying goodbye.
The implicit subject of despedirme is yo — the same as the main-clause subject. When the subjects differ, Spanish switches to preposition + que + subjunctive (or, in some cases, preposition + que + indicative):
Salí antes de que llegaran mis padres.
I left before my parents arrived.
Te llamo para que sepas que ya he llegado.
I'm calling so you know I've already arrived.
This shift — from infinitive (same subject) to que + subjunctive (different subject) — is one of the most important pivots in intermediate Spanish. Both constructions translate similarly into English, which is why learners often miss it.
The one historical exception: en + gerund
There is exactly one literary survival of preposition + gerund in Spanish: en + gerund, meaning upon / as soon as doing something. It is archaic in modern usage, found only in literature and set phrases.
En llegando a casa, te llamo. (archaic / literary)
As soon as I get home, I'll call you.
In modern speech and writing, this is replaced by al + infinitive (al llegar a casa) or en cuanto + subjunctive (en cuanto llegue a casa). A learner can recognise en + gerund in old novels but should never produce it.
Verbal phrases that lexically take a preposition
Many Spanish verbs lexically require a particular preposition before the next verb. The preposition is part of the verb's syntactic frame, and the following verb is — predictably — an infinitive.
| Verb + prep | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| empezar a | to start to | Empezó a llover. |
| aprender a | to learn to | Estoy aprendiendo a cocinar. |
| ayudar a | to help to | ¿Me ayudas a mover esto? |
| acabar de | to have just | Acabo de llegar. |
| tratar de | to try to | Trato de entenderlo. |
| dejar de | to stop doing | He dejado de fumar. |
| tener ganas de | to feel like | Tengo ganas de salir. |
| insistir en | to insist on | Insiste en pagar. |
| tardar en | to take time to | No tardes en venir. |
| soñar con | to dream of | Sueño con vivir en el campo. |
In every case, the verb after the preposition is in the infinitive. The preposition belongs to the verb, not to the meaning — there is no way to predict from context that acabar takes de but empezar takes a. They have to be learnt as pairs.
Acabo de hablar con tu madre por teléfono.
I just spoke with your mother on the phone.
Sueño con vivir en una casita en el campo.
I dream of living in a little house in the countryside.
Common Mistakes
❌ Antes de comiendo, hay que lavarse las manos.
Wrong — preposition + gerund is ungrammatical.
✅ Antes de comer, hay que lavarse las manos.
Before eating, one should wash one's hands.
❌ Para hablando bien, tienes que practicar.
Wrong — preposition + gerund.
✅ Para hablar bien, tienes que practicar.
To speak well, you have to practise.
❌ Salí sin que decir nada.
Wrong — same subject takes plain infinitive, not que.
✅ Salí sin decir nada.
I left without saying anything.
❌ Después de él llegó, empezamos a comer.
Wrong — different subject needs después de que + verb, not just después de.
✅ Después de que él llegara, empezamos a comer. (or: Después de llegar él, empezamos a comer.)
After he arrived, we started eating.
❌ Insisto en pagando la cena.
Wrong — preposition + infinitive, always.
✅ Insisto en pagar la cena.
I insist on paying for the dinner.
Key takeaways
- Every Spanish preposition takes the infinitive, never the gerund — antes de comer, sin pensar, para estudiar, después de llegar.
- The rule has one literary archaism (en
- gerund), which you may meet in old texts but should never produce.
- Same subject → preposition + infinitive. Different subject → preposition + que
- subjunctive.
- Many verbs lexically require a specific preposition before the next infinitive. Learn the verb and its preposition as a single unit.
Now practice Spanish
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
- El infinitivo: visión generalA2 — The Spanish infinitive in one place — its three forms (simple, compound, reflexive), its three endings (-ar / -er / -ir), and the full menu of jobs it does in a sentence.
- El infinitivo como sustantivoB1 — How Spanish turns a verb into a noun — fumar es malo, me gusta cocinar, el comer demasiado engorda — and why the gerund cannot do this job.
- Al + infinitivo: 'upon doing'B1 — The al + infinitivo construction marks the moment one action triggers another — al llegar a casa, me di cuenta — covering English 'upon', 'when' and 'as soon as' in one compact form.
- Errores: traducciones literalesB1 — The constituent words map but the construction doesn't. 'I'm good' (no, thanks) is NOT 'estoy bueno'. 'My name is Juan' is more naturally 'me llamo Juan'. The high-frequency calque traps for English speakers in everyday peninsular Spanish.
- 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.