Five-minute Spanish Lessons - Lesson 17.

Prepositions (9).

Prepositions at the end of sentences in English and the Spanish translation.

To start with I'll deal with the frequent construction where the preposition of an adjective falls at the end of the sentence in English. Usually, the Spanish translation is straightforward and a preposition is avoided:

There's nothing to get* + adjective + preposition (usually "about")

[*or similar expressions such as "you've got a lot to get" (tienes mucho); "Is there anything to get?" (¿Hay algo?); "We've got little to get" (Tenemos poco) etc.]

No tienes + por qué + ponerte + adjetivo (informal tú)

No tiene + por qué + ponerse + adjetivo (formal usted)

Better look at some examples!

There's nothing to get nervous about.

No tienes por qué ponerte nervioso(a).

You've got / a lot / little / to get angry about.

Tienes / mucho / poco / por qué ponerte enfadado(a).

We can see that get + adjective (ponerse + adjetivo) can show the action happening eg:

I'm getting nervous. (action happening now)

Me estoy poniendo nervioso(a). (action happening now)

As these are actions we can (or must if there is no adjective equivalent) use a verb instead of the adjective form:

You've nothing to get worried about. (adjective)

or,

You've got nothing to fret about. (verb)

No tienes por qué ponerte preocupado(a).

or,

No tienes por qué preocuparte. (verb)

To be + adjective (Estar + adjective) can show the state of an action, ie. the situation is like this:

I am worried.

Estoy preocupado(a).

So we can say:

You've got everything to be worried about.

Tienes todo por qué estar preocupado(a).

There's nothing to be ashamed / about / of.

No tienes por qué estar avergonzado(a).

She's got little to be sad about.

Tiene poco por qué estar triste.

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