Some Spanish verbs refuse to travel alone: they demand a fixed little preposition before whatever comes next. At B2 the challenge isn't the grammar — it's the memory. English either uses no preposition (I stopped smoking) or a different one (think about → pensar en), so translating word for word will quietly betray you. The fix is simple and unglamorous: learn the preposition as part of the verb, never separately.
Consider Sueño con viajar. — I dream of travelling. An English speaker instinctively reaches for de ("of"), but Spanish locks in con. There is no rule that predicts it; soñar con is simply how the verb is stored in a native speaker's head. Multiply that by a hundred common verbs and you can see why this is one of the highest-value habits at the intermediate level.
So from now on, don't file away empezar — file away empezar a. Don't learn acordarse — learn acordarse de. The preposition is glued on. Below they're grouped by preposition so the patterns start to feel familiar, but your real goal is to absorb each verb as a single unit.
A big family here involves starting, learning, or moving toward an action — and the preposition a is followed by an infinitive.
| Verb + a | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| empezar a | to start to | Empecé a estudiar anoche. |
| aprender a | to learn to | Aprendo a tocar la guitarra. |
| ayudar a | to help (to) | Me ayudó a mover el sofá. |
| ir a | to be going to | Voy a llamarte mañana. |
| volver a | to do (something) again | Volví a leer el libro. |
| atreverse a | to dare to | No me atrevo a decírselo. |
| negarse a | to refuse to | Se negó a firmar el contrato. |
| acostumbrarse a | to get used to | Me acostumbré a levantarme temprano. |
volver a is a gem: it's how Spanish says "again." Volvió a llamar. — She called again. Literally "she returned to call," but idiomatically just again.
The de group is the largest and most treacherous, because English rarely uses "of" where Spanish does. Several of these are reflexive.
| Verb + de | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| acordarse de | to remember | No me acuerdo de su nombre. |
| olvidarse de | to forget | Me olvidé de las llaves. |
| tratar de | to try to | Trato de comer mejor. |
| dejar de | to stop (doing) | Dejé de fumar el año pasado. |
| depender de | to depend on | Depende del tiempo. |
| darse cuenta de | to realise | Me di cuenta de mi error. |
| enamorarse de | to fall in love with | Se enamoró de ella. |
| quejarse de | to complain about | Se queja del ruido. |
| alegrarse de | to be glad about | Me alegro de verte. |
Watch the two "try" verbs: tratar de + infinitive means to try to do something (Trato de dormir más.), while intentar means the same thing but takes no preposition. And note that darse cuenta de is Spanish's everyday word for to realise — the false friend realizar means to carry out, not to realise.
English "on," "about," or "in" often maps onto Spanish en — but not predictably, so memorise these too.
| Verb + en | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| pensar en | to think about | Pienso en ti a menudo. |
| insistir en | to insist on | Insistió en pagar la cuenta. |
| quedar en | to agree to | Quedamos en vernos el sábado. |
| tardar en | to take (time) to | Tardé una hora en llegar. |
| consistir en | to consist of | El plan consiste en ahorrar. |
| fijarse en | to notice / pay attention to | Fíjate en los detalles. |
Two are especially useful. quedar en means to agree/arrange to (make a plan): Quedamos en cenar juntos. — We agreed to have dinner together. And tardar en tells you how long something takes: El tren tarda en salir. — The train takes a while to leave.
Finally, a smaller set pairs with con (often ideas of relying, dreaming, joining) or por (worry, struggle, asking).
| Verb + con / por | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| contar con | to count/rely on | Cuenta con mi ayuda. |
| soñar con | to dream of/about | Sueño con viajar por el mundo. |
| casarse con | to marry | Se casó con su novio. |
| cumplir con | to fulfil / meet (an obligation) | Cumplió con su deber. |
| preocuparse por | to worry about | No te preocupes por mí. |
| luchar por | to fight for | Luchan por sus derechos. |
| preguntar por | to ask after/about (someone) | Preguntó por ti. |
Notice how far these stray from English. You marry with someone (casarse con), you dream with travelling (soñar con), and when someone asks for you in the sense of asking how you are, that's preguntar por ti — not preguntar a ti. Each one just has to be memorised in its finished form.
A couple of traps are worth flagging directly.
pensar en vs. pensar de. Use en for what occupies your mind — to think about: Pienso en mi familia. Use de to ask for an opinion of something: ¿Qué piensas de la película? — What do you think of the film? Same verb, different preposition, genuinely different meaning.
No preposition at all. Several verbs that carry a preposition in English take none in Spanish. The object follows directly:
| Spanish (no prep.) | English (with prep.) |
|---|---|
| buscar algo | to look for something |
| escuchar música | to listen to music |
| pedir algo | to ask for something |
| esperar algo | to wait for something |
| mirar algo | to look at something |
Saying buscar por or escuchar a la música is a classic English-speaker slip. The verb already contains the idea of "for" or "to," so nothing extra is needed.
Type the single preposition (a, de, en, con, or por) that the verb requires.
Again, supply the one preposition each verb demands.
Don't try to swallow all of these at once. Pick five verbs that describe your own life — soñar con a goal, dejar de a habit, acordarse de a person — and drill the whole unit, preposition included, until the pairing feels automatic. That's how natives store them, and it's how you'll stop translating and start speaking. ¡Ánimo, lo estás haciendo muy bien!