When to use por and para in Spanish-part I Today I have for you two of the most hated words in Spanish by students…Por and para.

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In when to use por and para in Spanish-part I we are going to see one, just one of the uses of por and para, and we are just going to see one because is the most confusing one.

I am sure that you have heard or read more than once, por is to express reason or cause–razón o causa, and para is purpose–finalidad o próposito, but sometimes is so hard to see…is this a reason? Is it a purpose? Should I use por? Para?

If you are having these doubts you need to read this blog, and hopefully by the end of it, when to use por and para depending on razón o finalidad will be clear .

Let’s start with a question

¿ Por qué estudias español?-Why do you study Spanish?

Your answer might be –porque me gusta “because I like it”-simple! But what about when you want to give a more complex answer like

Por trabajo, por diversión, por amor…àBecause of work, for fun, for love…

Para hablar con mis amigos españolesàTo speak with my Spanish friends…

Para viajar a Latino AméricaàTo travel to South America

Why in the answer for the same question we use sometimes por and sometimes para?

 

When to use por and para in Spanish-part I

 

If you are a bit observant you might have notice…

We use

 

–POR

following by nouns to express a reason, a cause.

 

And

–PARA

 

following by a verb in infinitive, and we express a porpurse, a goal

Sometimes if you keep in mind the time and the chronological order that the actions in the sentences follow might help as…

 

1-When we use PARA and we talk about a purpose, normally the purpose goes after the main action like.

Voy a clase para aprender español, “I go to class to learn Spanish”

First you need to come to the lessons and then you will learn Spanish

First–>I go to class

After–>I learn Spanish

Estudio español para viajar  “I study Spanish to travel”

First you study and then you travel

 

2-While using POR, we talk about a reason, and the main thing happens after something.

No va a la excursión por sus malas notas “He does not go to the trip because of his bad marks”

First–>He got bad marks

After–>He does not go to the trip

First we got bad mark, therefore he is not going to the trip

 

Does it make sense?

 

#Trick-most of the times if you can use in English in order to you would need to use para in Spanish, but if you can use because of you would need to use por, sometimes you might need to tweak the sentences a bit but it works 95 % of the time.

 

You can also watch the video lesson :

And that is all my friends, this is the first big thing you need to tackle in order to master por and para, the rest of the meaning are straight forward and we will see them after, for now just try to focus on get the difference between purpose and reason, how? With this amazing quiz I have created so you can check if you finally got it http://makeaquiz.net/1KqeT2 

 

HOMEWORK leave a comment below with a sentences where you use por or para depending if you are expressing reason or purpose, and take this quiz to see if you finally got por and para right 🙂

 

If you find this useful do not keep it as a secret, help me to spread the Spanish language around, SHARE IT with someone who can benefit from it.

 

Have fun with your Spanish learning and I will write you soon.

 

 

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