preposition

de

of · from · about

Es una palabra que se usa para mostrar origen, posesión o relación entre cosas o personas.

Definition & meaning

The Spanish preposition de is one of the most frequently used words in the language. It functions primarily as a connector, expressing several key relationships:

Possession or Relationship: Indicates who something belongs to or the nature of a relationship (e.g., "el libro de Juan" - John's book).
Origin or Provenance: Indicates where someone or something comes from (e.g., "soy de España" - I am from Spain).
Material or Composition: Specifies what an object is made of (e.g., "una mesa de madera" - a wooden table).
Content: Describes what a container holds (e.g., "un vaso de agua" - a glass of water).
Time of day: Used to indicate specific times or periods (e.g., "de la mañana" - in the morning).
Subject Matter: Used when talking about a specific topic (e.g., "hablar de política" - to talk about politics).
Descriptive Characteristic: Used to describe attributes (e.g., "un hombre de pelo largo" - a man with long hair).

Grammar & Word origin

Grammatically, de is a preposition. When the preposition de is followed by the masculine singular definite article el, they combine to form the contraction del .

Etymologically, it derives from the Latin preposition de, which indicated movement away from a point, separation, or origin.

Synonyms & antonyms

Because de is a fundamental preposition, it does not have direct synonyms that can replace it in every context. However, depending on the usage, it can be conceptually related to:

Desde : Used when referring to a starting point in time or space.
Acerca de [?](vocabuo://word/acerca de): Used as a synonym for "about" or "concerning."

There are no direct antonyms for this preposition, although in contexts of movement, a or hacia can sometimes function as the directional opposite (e.g., coming from vs. going to).