Verbs with en and con: pensar en, soñar con, confiar en

Explanation

Some verbs lock onto en: pensar en ('think about', pienso en vos), confiar en ('trust'), insistir en, consistir en, fijarse en ('notice'), tardar en + infinitive ('take time to', tardó en responder), quedar en ('agree to'). Others lock onto con: soñar con ('dream of/about'), contar con ('count on'), casarse con, cumplir con, encontrarse con.

Pensar is worth a closer look, because the preposition changes the meaning: pensar en = think about someone/something; pensar de = have an opinion about (¿qué pensás de…?); and pensar + infinitive (no preposition) = plan to (pienso viajar en julio).

The catch for English and French speakers is that the Spanish preposition often differs from theirs ('dream of' but soñar con, 'think about' but pensar en) so the safest approach is to memorize each verb together with its preposition as a single vocabulary item.

Examples

Related rules

• The preposition con: with
• The preposition en: in, on, at