Contractions

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Contracciones

Contractions occur when two words are combined into one. In English, contractions like "I’m" and "won’t" are optional and indicate informality. In Spanish, however, contractions are required, regardless of the register you’re speaking or writing in.

Spanish contractions

There are essentially 3 types of Spanish contractions.

1. A and de plus definite article

The prepositions a and de contract with the masculine singular definite article el. They do not contract with the feminine la or the plurals los and las.

a + el		al
a + la, a + los, a + las		a la, a los, a las
de + el		del
de + la, de + los, de + las		de la, de los, de las

2. Con plus prepositional pronoun

The preposition con contracts with the prepositional pronouns mí, ti, and sí, and the suffix –go is added to each one.

con + mí		conmigo
con + ti		contigo
con + sí		consigo

3. Verbs plus object pronouns

When object pronouns follow certain verb forms, they all contract into a single word, and accents may need to be added to maintain proper word stress.

ver + lo		verlo
mostrar + me + la		mostrármela
ayuda + me		ayúdame
vaya + se		váyase
haciendo + lo		haciéndolo
hablando + te		hablándote

Learn more: Object pronoun placement

 Contractions Quiz

Think you’ve got it? Test yourself on Spanish contractions with these fill-in-the-blanks exercises:

• Polvorones

Note: You must be logged into your Progress with Lawless Spanish account to take these tests. If you don’t have one, sign up – it’s free!

 Related lessons

• Definite articles
• Object pronouns
• Prepositional pronouns
• Prepositions
   

 En français

• Formes contractées
   

 In italiano

• Preposizioni articolate
   

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