Preposition Help "I was the first to arrive"

Question

Hey all, this has been bothering me all week. How might I say "I was the first to arrive"? Now, I know ways around it, and other ways to say it, and in some cases, you merely have to express it differently (such as yo llegué primero, yo llegué antes de todos, etc), but can I express it like I did in English, and if so, what preposition would I use? My best guess is either "Fui el primero a llegar" or "Fui el primero de llegar." Thanks!

Good question. Prepositions are a bite, and often just a memorization thing. - rogspax, May 5, 2013

Answer 1

Fui el primero en llegar. Prepositions need to be memorized in most cases. Some do not follow a specific rule and are just dictated by usage.

Man, I´d have written it all just like Mike did, and then been very surprised that it was ´en´. Last one that got me was a line in a song: Cuando sueño CONtigo. Con for about. Who knew? - rogspax, May 5, 2013

Yet another of those "Prepositions used with..." categories! Thanks for this one "the first to". - Jubilado, May 5, 2013

Contigo is a liasion between the preposition Con and the pronoun Tu with a variant of the pronoun ti. This is rather an exception, though - francobollo, May 5, 2013

I would send you aPM, but you don't allow it.. So I can't explain! - annierats, May 5, 2013

Franco, being aforeigner, I avoid talking about some things in English too. - annierats, May 5, 2013

I see your point, Annie. - francobollo, May 5, 2013

Answer 2

It´s also very common to structure this kind of sentence using both first and third person, ie: Fui el primero que llegó .... I was the first (person) that arrived or El primero que llegó fui yo.

Yes, sounds normal. - annierats, May 7, 2013

Answer 3

fui el primero en llegar

Answer 4

Bigmike: Llegué primero can give rather intimate sexual information. Possibly best avoided..

@ Rogspax: Soñar contigo is standard for to dream about you, or whatever. It's just soñar con.. Why I don't know.

Annie your mind is in the gutter! :-) Llegar primero a la meta is quite standard Spanish. - francobollo, May 5, 2013

Yes and no, franco, thinkof the English that Bigmike has avoided.. Without even thinking. - annierats, May 5, 2013

I can see that. but nevermind. The point is that's not what he wrote in either language. - francobollo, May 5, 2013

English that I've avoided? Must be a British expression. Obviously, I could invent meanings, but I've never heard anything I've said be used in other contexts. - BigMike, May 7, 2013

If it's an expression in Spanish, though, I appreciate your warning. - BigMike, May 7, 2013

de nada. - annierats, May 7, 2013