Prepositions After 'Hablar'

The prepositions that are usually used following hablar, the verb for "to speak" or "to talk," might not be the ones you'd expect.

To talk about talking to someone, usually the preposition con is used, as in these examples:

• "Habla con ella" es un film por Pedro Almodóvar. ("Talk to Her" is a film by Pedro Almodóvar.)
• Si prefiere hablar con nosotros en persona, por favor, pase por uno de nuestros centros de servicio al cliente. (If you prefer to talk to us in person, please come to one of our customer service centers.)
• Hablaban con los nativos en su lenguaje local. (They talked to the natives in their local language.)
• Hablaré con los estudiantes. (I will talk to the students.)
• No tengo nada que hablar contigo. (I have nothing to say to you.)

Note that many of the above sentences could also be translated as "talk with." Although the preposition a is sometimes used in sentences such as those above, con is far more common.

When referring to what someone is talking about, the most common preposition is de:

• No hablaban de ti. (They weren't talking about you.)
• Esta tarde voy a hablar de mis experiencias. (This afternoon I'm going to talk about my experiences.)
• Los tres líderes hablaron de cosas distintas. (The three leader talked about different things.)

Although the preposition sobre is sometimes used in sentences such as those above, de is far more common.