Prepositions after verbs

A phrasal verb is a verb followed by a preposition or an adverb which often changes its meaning:

He looked like the child. (= Se parecía al niño.)
He looked at the child. (= Miró al niño.)
He looked for the child. (= Buscó al niño.)
He looked after the child. (= Cuidó al niño.)

Many other verbs are followed by specific prepositions which do not change their meaning. These verbs nearly always collocate (i.e. appear together with the same preposition.

Sometimes they are also followed by a preposition in Spanish, sometimes not.
Sometimes these prepositions are similar to the Spanish ones, sometimes not.

Here is a list of some common verbs followed by a preposition, in alphabetical order.
Revise it at home, then take a flash test in the classroom:

argue about discutir de
arrive at / in / onllegar a ("arrive" uses the same preposition as "be".)
benefit frombeneficiarse de
collocate withaparecer junto a (it refers to words that appear together in a sentence.)
come fromvenir de, proceder de
consist inconsistir en
consist ofconstar de
depend ondepender de
dispose ofdeshacerse de
end up interminar por
get rid ofdeshacerse de
lead tollevar a
listen toescuchar, escuchar a
look aftercuidar
look atmirar
look forbuscar
pay forpagar
speak to / withhablar con
suffer fromsufrir / padecer de
take advantage ofaprovecharse de
talk to / withhablar con
think aboutpensar en, reflexionar acerca de
travel around / toviajar por / a
wait foresperar a
watch out fortener cuidado o estar atento (in case something or someone appears)

Download a flash test template (for teachers)