Prepositions

Small, frequent, and they fuse with the article in front of them. See Articles for the full contraction table — nothing here works without it.

The core set


de	of, from
em	in, on, at
a	to, at
para	to, for, towards
por	by, through, for
com	with
sem	without
até	until, as far as
desde	since
sobre	about, on top of

a or para

Both mean "to". The difference is how long you are staying.

Vou a Lisboa. — I'm going to Lisbon (and coming back).
Vou para Lisboa. — I'm going to Lisbon (to stay).

por or para

The classic pair, and the same distinction Spanish makes.

por — cause, means, exchange, duration: Obrigado por tudo. Passei por aqui.
para — purpose, destination, deadline: Isto é para ti. Estudo para aprender.

Verbs that own their preposition

These are not optional and have to be learnt with the verb.


gostar de	to like
precisar de	to need
pensar em	to think about
começar a	to begin to
deixar de	to stop doing
ir a / ir para	to go to

Gosto de ti — I like you. Drop the de and the sentence collapses.

com and the pronouns

com fuses with pronouns into single words: comigo, contigo, connosco, and — politely — consigo, which means "with you" and catches out every learner who expects "with himself".

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