The Spanish Preposition

• He is an admirer of and a contributor to the "Times": Es admirador del "Times" y colabora en ese periódico.
• The man I spoke with and wrote to: El hombre con quien hablé y al cual escribí.

However, we find the same construction as in English in cases of antithesis, as:

• Con ó sin él: With or without him.
• El billete cuesta 20 pesetas desde ó hasta Madrid: The ticket is 20 ptas. from or to Madrid.

The Spanish Academy condemns this use, however.

As will have been noticed before, a preposition governing a word cannot be used after the word it governs, as:

• The work[1] which I referred to: La obra á la cual referí.

• Con enseñar se aprende: By teaching one learns.

The preposition desde refers to "distance of time or space," as:

• He marchado desde mi casa: I walked from my house.

However, desde may be used instead of de before names of countries or cities:

• Me escribieron desde Barcelona: They wrote me from Barcelona.

Para may be used together with con = "towards":

• Fué muy bueno conmigo, para mí, or para conmigo.

"En acabando[2] lo haré" has the meaning of "I shall do it as soon as I have finished."

We add the following idiomatic uses of Por and Para to what we said about these two prepositions in Lesson XXIX, The Prepositions:

Por may translate "on behalf of," "for the sake of," "in favour of,"
"during," "through":

• Habló por el proyecto de ley: He spoke in favour of the bill.
• Se presentó por la casa: He appeared on behalf of the firm.
• Por la paz y buena armonía concedemos lo que V. pide: For the sake of peace we allow what you ask.
• Les sirvió por cinco años: He served them during five years.
• Trabaja por la mañana: He works during (in) the morning.
• Vino por París: He came through Paris.
• Cotizar por un artículo: To quote for an article.
• Yo por mí (or por mi parte) prefiero comprar al contado: I, for one, prefer to buy for cash.
• Por[3] rico que sea, no tendrá suficientes recursos: No matter how rich he is, he will not have sufficient means.
• Es demasiado avaro por ser tan rico: for such a rich man, he is too miserly.
• Caro por caro prefiero géneros ingleses: If I have to pay a dear price, I prefer English goods.
• Por sí ó por no: In any case, should it be so or not.
• Ir (venir) por: To go (come) for.
• Enviar por el médico: To send for the doctor.
• Por holgazán perdió el empleo: He lost his employment through laziness.
• Por bién ó por mal: Willy-nilly.
• Vendré por la Navidad: I shall come by Christmas.
• Por si acaso: In case that.

• No sirve para más: He is good for nothing else.
• Venir para la Pentecostés: To come for Whitsuntide.
• Esto no es para menos: The thing (or occasion) is worth it.
• Para español (or por ser español) es muy alto: He is very tall for a Spaniard.
• Tener grande consideración para este hombre: To have great respect for this man.
• Dar pedidos para ferretería, ollería, y maquinaría: To give orders for ironware, hollow-ware and machinery.
• Es demasiado avaro para ser tan rico: He is too miserly to be so rich.

Sin--"without":

• Poseía £10,000 sin los bienes raíces que heredó de su padre: He owned £10,000 besides the real property he inherited from his father.

Según--"according to":

• Según y como: That depends.

So instead of bajo is used in the following expressions:

• So capa de: Under the cloak of.
• So pretexto de: Under the pretext of.

And in a few other such phrases.