DELE B2 Spanish Verbs with Prepositions: Practice Test & Review

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Verbs with prepositions are one of the most tested vocabulary areas at B2. Spanish verbs often require a specific preposition that English does not, and getting the preposition wrong changes the meaning or makes the sentence incorrect. The exam tests these in gap-fill tasks, reading comprehension, and written production.

This page gives you a five-part practice quiz: an evaluation set to see where you stand, three practice sets to drill the main preposition groups, and a challenge set to confirm mastery. The grammar review below covers the most common verbs organized by preposition, the cases where the preposition changes meaning, and the fixed expressions that appear on the exam.

Verbs with prepositions appear in every B2 reading passage and in every writing task. Master the groups and you can handle any preposition question the exam throws at you. Ready? Start with the evaluation set below.

Grammar Guide

The Rule

Many Spanish verbs require a specific preposition before an infinitive or a noun. The preposition is not optional — it is part of the verb’s structure. Some verbs change meaning depending on which preposition they take. The exam tests these in gap-fill tasks and in written production, where using the wrong preposition is a common error.

Verbs Organized by Preposition

The most efficient way to learn these is by grouping them by preposition.

Verbs with De

Verb	Meaning	Example
Depender de	To depend on	Dependo de mis padres.
Olvidarse de	To forget about	Me olvidé de las llaves.
Acordarse de	To remember	Me acuerdo de aquel día.
Arrepentirse de	To regret	Se arrepiente de lo que dijo.
Alegrarse de	To be glad about	Me alegro de verte.
Quejarse de	To complain about	Se queja de todo.
Cuidar de	To take care of	Cuida de su salud.
Terminar de	To finish doing	Terminó de estudiar.
Dejar de	To stop doing	Dejó de fumar.
Tratar de	To try to	Trato de llegar temprano.

Verbs with Por

Verb	Meaning	Example
Preocuparse por	To worry about	Me preocupo por mi familia.
Interesarse por	To be interested in	Se interesa por la política.
Luchar por	To fight for	Luchan por sus derechos.
Optar por	To opt for	Opté por quedarme.
Preguntar por	To ask about	Preguntó por ti.

Verbs with En

Verb	Meaning	Example
Confiar en	To trust in	Confío en ti.
Insistir en	To insist on	Insiste en venir.
Pensar en	To think about	Pienso en ti.
Esforzarse en	To strive to	Se esfuerza en aprobar.
Quedar en	To agree to	Quedamos en vernos mañana.
Fijarse en	To notice	Se fijó en el detalle.

Verbs with Con

Verb	Meaning	Example
Contar con	To count on	Cuento con tu ayuda.
Casarse con	To marry	Se casó con María.
Soñar con	To dream about	Sueño con viajar.
Encontrarse con	To meet up with	Me encontré con Juan.

Verbs with A

Verb	Meaning	Example
Tratar a	To treat (someone)	Trata bien a sus amigos.
Ayudar a	To help	Ayudo a mi madre.
Aprender a	To learn to	Aprendo a hablar español.
Enseñar a	To teach to	Enseña a nadar.
Empezar a	To start to	Empecé a estudiar.

Verbs That Change Meaning with the Preposition

Some verbs have different meanings depending on the preposition.

Verb	Preposition	Meaning
Tratar	a	To treat (someone)
Tratar	de	To try to
Quedar	en	To agree to
Quedar	con	To meet with
Pensar	en	To think about
Pensar	de	To have an opinion about
Acordar	(no prep)	To agree
Acordarse	de	To remember

Fixed Expressions

Expression	Meaning	Note
Preocuparse por	To worry about	The most tested verb
Depender de	To depend on	Common in reading tasks
Confiar en	To trust in	Common in writing tasks
Insistir en	To insist on	Common in reported speech
Contar con	To count on	Common in conversational texts
Acordarse de	To remember	Contrast with acordar
Olvidarse de	To forget about	Contrast with olvidar
Tratar de	To try to	Contrast with tratar a

Common Mistakes

Using por with depender.
Incorrect: Dependo por mis padres.
Correct: Dependo de mis padres.
Depender always takes de.

Using de with preocuparse.
Incorrect: Me preocupo de mi familia.
Correct: Me preocupo por mi familia.
Preocuparse always takes por.

Confusing tratar a and tratar de.
Incorrect: Trato de mis amigos.
Correct: Trato a mis amigos.
Tratar a = to treat. Tratar de = to try to.

Using acordarse without de.
Incorrect: Me acuerdo aquel día.
Correct: Me acuerdo de aquel día.
Acordarse always takes de.

Quick Decision Chart

Ask yourself	Answer	Preposition
Is this a verb of remembering or forgetting?	Yes	de
Is this a verb of worrying or interest?	Yes	por
Is this a verb of trust or insistence?	Yes	en
Is this a verb of counting on or marrying?	Yes	con
Is this a verb of helping or learning?	Yes	a
Does the verb change meaning with the preposition?	Check the table	Depends

Two Sentences That Show the Difference

Trato a mis amigos.
I treat my friends (well).
Tratar a = to treat someone.

Trato de llegar temprano.
I try to arrive early.
Tratar de = to try to.

Me acuerdo de aquel día.
I remember that day.
Acordarse de = to remember.

Acordamos el precio.
We agreed on the price.
Acordar (no preposition) = to agree.

Pienso en ti.
I think about you.
Pensar en = to think about.

¿Qué piensas de esto?
What do you think about this?
Pensar de = to have an opinion about.