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in

in

preposition een Less Common
Grammar & Structure Prepositions

Origin: Latin in (in, into)

Usage Note

In appears in Spanish text almost exclusively in loanword phrases and fixed Latin or English borrowings: in situ, in vitro, in vivo, show-in, stand-in. It is not a productive Castilian preposition — the standard equivalents are en (location/state) and dentro de (inside). Learners should use en in their own writing and recognise in only in these fixed international terms.

Examples

"El experimento se realizó in vitro."

Natural Translation

The experiment was carried out in vitro.

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