Spanish Prepositions - DESDE, ENTRE, SIN and HASTA
If you haven’t had enough of prepositions yet, here are some more. Prepositions are extremely important to learn, because they allow you to connect your thoughts and make your sentences more precise. Although they may seem more confusing and vague compared to nouns or verbs, don’t dismiss them. You’ll hear the following words quite frequently in conversations.
- desde from, since
- entre among, between
- hasta until, to, up to, as far as, even, including
- sin without
Resources for further reading:
- Get started with learning Spanish online > - How long does it take to become fluent in Spanish?
DESDE: From or Since
The preposition desde is used in a variety of expressions to mean “from” or “since.”
Position/Place
Time
Desde is also used in the following phrases.
desde … hasta (from … to)
El avión viajó desde Perú hasta Chile. The plane traveled from Peru to Chile.
desde que… (since)
He vivido aquí desde que nací. I’ve lived here since I was born.
¿desde cuándo? (how long?)
¿Desde cuándo lo sabes? How long have you known?
Desde que lo leí en tu diario. Since I read it in your diary.
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He vivido aquí desde que nací.
I've lived here since I was born.
Tú me miraste desde la ventana.
You watched me from the window.
HASTA: Until, Up to, As Far As, Even, Including
Hasta is another all-around useful word that can mean everything from “until” to “including.” You have already seen its use above, in the phrase desde … hasta (in which it means “to”). You’ve probably said it many times when waving goodbye to someone: ¡hasta luego! ¡hasta mañana!
Here are some examples of other ways to use hasta:
Until
Juan se va a quedar en Cuba hasta el fin de año.
Juan will stay in Cuba until the end of the year.
Up to
Puedes gastar hasta viente dólares esta noche.
You can spend up to twenty dollars tonight.
As far as
Los astronautas viajaron hasta el planeta Marte.
The astronauts traveled as far as the planet Mars.
Even
Including
ENTRE: Among or Between
You won’t have many problems with the preposition entre, which means "among" or "between". Use it just as you would use its English equivalents.
Por ejemplo:
Levantaron el auto entre seis hombres.
They picked up the car between six men.
Tenemos dos mil pesos entre todos nosotros.
We have two thousand pesos between all of us.
SIN: Without
The word sin is usually followed by a noun, but you can also use it with the infinitive form of a verb.
Por ejemplo:
Diego quedó sin palabras.
Diego was left without words.
Los turistas llegaron al hotel sin dinero.
The tourists arrived to the hotel without money.
Sin poder estar al lado de su madre, Maria le escribió una carta.
Without being able to be by her mother's side, Maria wrote her a letter.
No puedo hacerlo sin ver las instrucciones.
I can't make it without looking at the instructions.
And that's it! Now that you understand desde, entre, sin, and hasta, take a look at lessons on other Spanish Prepositions right here:
- In Spanish, the prepositional pronouns are exactly the same as the subject pronouns with the exceptions of “mí” and “ti”. Check out this lesson for more!
- In this lesson, we’ll look at the Spanish prepositions a, de, en, hacia, and con.
- The Spanish prepositions por and para are extraordinarily confusing in Spanish, learn how to use them here!
See you soon! ¡Hasta pronto!
Mauricio Evlampieff: Rocket Spanish
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