Spanish Prepositions De and Desde

Spanish Prepositions De and Desde Because they can both mean from, the Spanish prepositions desde and de are easily confused. And the fact that they sometimes are interchangeable - for example, both de aquà ­ al centro and desde aquà ­ al centro can be used for from here to downtown. - doesnt help matters. When to Use Desde However, as a general rule, it can be said that desde more strongly indicates motion from a location. To give two examples, desde commonly would be used in sentences such as Echà ³ el libro desde el coche (he threw the book from the car) and Corrià ³ desde la playa (he ran from the beach). It can similarly be used where the emphasis is on the original location rather than the destination. Desde also is used with other prepositions: desde arriba (from above), desde dentro (from inside), desde abajo (from underneath). Note that these phrases tend to indicate motion from the specified area. It is also common with time phrases. When to Use De There are numerous cases where de, not desde, must be used to translate from. Many of those are instances wherein the translation of can be substituted for from, even if awkwardly. Examples: Soy de los Estados Unidos. (Im from the United States. Im of the United States.) Sacà ³ el dinero de la bolsa. (She took the money from the purse. She took the money of the purse.) Sometimes the preposition por can be used to mean from: Est debilitado por hambre. (He is weak from hunger.) Sample Sentences Using De and Desde To Mean 'From' You can see more about how these prepositions are used in these sentences: Desde aquà ­ se ve todos los sitios turà ­sticos. (From here all the tourist sites are seen. Here, the emphasis is on the place to be in order to see the sites.)Desde siempre he sabido que la mà ºsica era algo muy importante. Since forever I have known that music is something very important. Desde siempre is a fairly common time phrase.)Esculpià ³ la estatua de piedra muy cara. (She sculpted the statue from very expensive stone. From in the translation could substitute for of.)Desde hace un aà ±o hasta dos meses, mi amiga estaba a cargo de la programacià ³n de la red. (From a year ago until two months ago, my friend was in charge of network programming. This is another example of desde in a time expression.) ¡Encuentra excelentes ofertas de vuelos desde Nueva York a Ciudad de Mà ©xico y ahorra con el mejor precio! (Find excellent sales of flights from New York to Mexico City and save with the best price! The flight involves motion from New York City.)El actor famoso dijo que sufrià ³ de depresion y adicciones. (The famous actor said he suffered from depression and addictions. De is used for from when the preposition is used to state the cause of something.) Mi novio es de un familia rica. (My boyfriend is from a rich family. From here could be substituted with of.)El presidente vivià ³ de 1917 a 1962. (The president lived from 1917 to 1962. De is used with the time element.)