What's the difference between de and desde?

If you want to say "I'm from the United States" in Spanish, you'd say "Soy de Estados Unidos." But if you want to say, "I threw the ball from the window," you'd say, "Eché la pelota desde la ventana." In other words, the word for "from" is de in the first sentence but desde in the second. How can you tell which one to use? Learn more about de and desde here...

Spanish also has several other word pairs that might be confusing. Here are some of them:

• Saber and conocer (to know)
• Qué and cuál (what)
• Por and para (for)
• Ser and estar (to be)