Dropping Prepositions before Que

Level 4

In formal writing, many governed a, de and en prepositions disappear before que plus a finite clause.

How It Works

A verb or adjective may require a preposition before a noun but lose it before a finite que clause. Compare confio en la seva resposta with confio que respondrà, and estic segur de la resposta with estic segur que respondrà.

The relationship remains the same even though the surface preposition disappears. Do not replace que with què: the conjunction has no accent. This rule concerns complement clauses, not relative constructions such as el tema de què parlem.

Where the direct clause is awkward, use an explicit noun such as el fet: insisteix en el fet que cal revisar-ho. That structure contains a genuine noun after the preposition; it is not the sequence en que directly introducing the complement.

Examples (3)

  1. Confio que tot anirà bé.

    I trust that everything will go well.

  2. S'adona que falta una pàgina.

    She realizes that a page is missing.

  3. Estic segur que vindran.

    I am sure they will come.

Common Mistakes

  • Keeping a governed preposition directly before complement que in careful formal writing.

    Confio en que vindrà.
    Confio que vindrà.

    The finite complement introduced by conjunction que drops the governed en in this formal construction; a relative en què is a different structure.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Dropping Prepositions before QueLevel 4

Learn This First

Recognize lexical preposition government before replacing or dropping its complement marker.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.