(Andrew speaking in foreign language)
- Andrew Barr here, founder of Real Fast Spanish.
And in this video,
we're gonna look at the Spanish prepositions
por vs para.
And we're gonna start this lesson,
with a tricky example.
(Andrew speaking in Spanish)
Now when most students learn about por vs para
for the first time,
they learn that both 'por and para'
can translate to the English preposition 'for'.
Which means that this opening example could be,
he does everything for and for her.
Right and of course, this translation is a little strange.
Why would we say both 'por' and 'para' in the same sentence
if they both mean for?
Well today, 'por' vs 'para' is the most requested topic
on this channel which makes total sense
because prepositions are hard in general in every language,
but 'por' and 'para' present a unique challenge in Spanish
which is demonstrated really well by this first example.
And if you can understand this example,
then you'll be able to master por versus para.
So that's what we're gonna do in this video,
we're gonna work towards understanding first example,
and how we can translate it into English.
Now, one of the most common ways to teach 'por' vs 'para',
is by providing a long list of options for 'por',
and a long list of options for 'para',
and then providing a bunch of examples for each.
This isn't necessarily gonna solve our opening problem,
so for this video, I'm not going to teach 'por' vs 'para',
in it's traditional way.
I've already written a long article
that goes with this video,
to explain all the important uses of por vs para,
and give lots of examples of each.
I'll leave a link to the article below in the description.
Instead what we're gonna do in this video,
is I'm gonna to focus on the specific area
of 'por' vs 'para' which tends to be the hardest
for students to understand and get right.
And to provide some contrast,
I just wanna give one example of 'por',
and one example 'para',
where students tend to do really well.
So for example, we can use 'para'
to talk about our opinions.
We can say something like, in my opinion it is interesting.
This in Spanish is,
(Andrew speaking in Spanish)
Now in eight years of teaching Spanish,
it's really hard for me to think of a time
where I've ever heard a student make a mistake
with this use of 'para'.
And then for 'por',
we can use it to talk about time of day.
So I like to do exercise in the morning.
(Andrew speaking in Spanish)
Again, we rarely hear mistakes with this use of 'por'.
Sometimes the challenge with this example
might be the choice of "de la manana"
instead of "por la manana"
And we need to say 'de' when we talk about a specific time
as opposed to just the morning in general.
So I like to do exercise at seven o'clock in the morning is,
(Andrew speaking in Spanish)
But this example doesn't seem to confuse students
in terms of 'para'.
Now I'm gonna explain why I think that these two examples
are easier for students in a moment,
but first see if you can see the problem area for yourself
in these next few examples.
The sentences that students tend to have a much harder time
with are things like, thanks for the gift.
I have to work for my boss on Saturday.
I'm studying medicine for my parents.
I'm going to make a cake for the party.
And a few years ago a student
taking one of our Spanish classes
at Real Fast Spanish, gave me this wonderful example.
I'm writing a song for my friend.
Now, I remember the time she asked me, "Andrew, is it 'por'
or 'para'?
I never know in these situations"
And I said, this is a brilliant example
and I'm gonna use it with students in the future
because it could be either 'por' or 'para',
It depends, on precisely what you mean by for my friend.
Now, the first step to solving this puzzle
is thinking about these sentences
in a very particular way.
First, you can see that they all relate to motivation.
So I'm motivated to say thanks for the gift.
I'm motivated to work for my boss on Saturday.
I'm motivated to study medicine for my parents,
I'm motivated to make a cake for the party,
and I'm motivated to write a song for my friend.
And next, you can see that they all have the word
'for' in them.
Right now this is the problem area
where we use 'por' and 'para' for motivation
and their translation into English are both 'for'.
Now you may have noticed in the sentences
that students do really well with from earlier
that we have things like, in my opinion
and in the morning
where we don't use the word 'for'.
We don't necessarily need to use the word 'for' in English.
And they are not about motivation.
Now I think these sentences are easier
because the translation of 'por' and 'para'
is something that is not 'for'.
So the key to solving this problem
is forgetting the association to the word 'for',
and instead looking to replace the word 'for' in English
with another phrase.
When we can do this, the choice of 'por' vs 'para'
will start to become a lot clearer.
So instead I recommend that you think of 'por'
as meaning 'because of',
and 'para', as meaning 'in order to'.
Specifically when we need to use one of 'por' and 'para'
for motivation.
Then whenever you have a sentence where 'for' appears
in English, and it's about motivation
all you need to do is reword the sentence
with one of, 'because of', or 'in order to'.
So let's look at an example from earlier.
I'm writing a song for my friend.
Now, the first question I asked the student at the time
when she asked me, is it 'por' or 'para' in this sentence
and I said, I know this is gonna sound a little morbid
but is your friend alive or dead?
And instantly, a light bulb went off
and she went "is it 'por' if she's dead
and 'para', if she's alive?"
And I said, yes, that's exactly right.
Why?
I asked her to rearrange the sentence
with one of, 'because of', or 'in order to',
as an answer to why she is writing this song for her friend.
And she said, "I'm writing this song
in order to surprise my friend."
And then she added "on her birthday."
And I said, that's perfect. Right.
Now just for good measure what are some other options?
She said, it could be "I'm writing a song
in order to cheer up my friend."
I'm writing a song in order to entertain my friend.
Therefore (Andrew speaking in Spanish)
So we use 'para', whenever we can say 'in order to',
and this happens when the person directly benefits
from something.
In the case of my friend writing this song
her friend was gonna directly benefit,
so we needed to stick with 'para'.
I then asked her to come up with a sentence,
if it was for a friend that had recently passed away.
And she said, "I'm writing a song because of the memory
of my friend".
Or alternatively, I'm writing a song because of the grief
of the loss of my friend.
Therefore, (Andrew speaking in Spanish)
Now when someone has passed away they can't directly benefit
from the song.
So we have to go with 'por'.
We can't use the song to cheer them up or benefit them
in some direct way, we can only write a song
because of their memory as a dedication.
Now, there was another amazing, wonderful example
that I saw recently in the television series
"LA CASA DE PAPEL".
There was a scene where the characters think
that one of their colleagues Nairobi has recently died,
and therefore, they are motivated to act in her memory.
And so in this case the characters
have to use the word 'por'
- [All] 'Por' Nairobi
'Por' Nairobi
(intense dramatic music)
- Alright now, let's look another example,
because the person doesn't have to be dead to use 'por'
It's just a really good example to demonstrate motivations
for someone that doesn't benefit directly.
But let's look at some more examples.
So I'm studying medicine for my parents.
Now here, if a child is studying medicine,
are the parents going to directly benefit
from those studies?
Is their child studying in order to help their parents
in some direct way or because their parents want them to?
Right. So we could reword this sentence
to be I'm studying medicine because of the request
from my parents.
Or I'm studying medicine because of the desire
of my parents.
Therefore, (Andrew speaking Spanish)
Now, it's unlikely that we would use "para" in a sentence
like this because both parents
are probably not going to directly benefit
from the studying.
But if one parent had, say for example, a rare disease,
then it could become I'm studying medicine for my father
and reworded it would be, I'm studying medicine
in order to help find a cure for my father.
Therefore, (Andrew speaking in Spanish)
Alright, next example.
I'm going to make a cake for the party.
Now, here I want you to think about it.
Can you replace the word 'for' in this sentence
with one of, "because of", or "in order to"?
Is the party going to directly benefit
from the baking of the cake,
or indirectly benefit in some way?
Like, are we baking the cake because of a dedication
to the party, or because of a memory of the party,
or we baking the cake in order to help the party
in some way?
So the party is gonna directly benefit from the food.
So it could be, I'm going to make a cake
in order to provide food to the party.
Therefore in Spanish (Andrew speaking in Spanish)
Alright let's look at the next example on the list.
Thanks for the gift.
Now when you say thank you for a gift
are you saying thank you in order to directly benefit
that gift or is it because of the existence of the gift?
Should it be "because of" or "in order to".
So in this case we could say, thanks because of the act
of you giving me the gift.
Therefore (Andrew speaking in Spanish)
Now, if there's one thing that I want you to remember
from this video, it's 'gracias por'
'Gracias por'
and 'lo siento por'
'Lo siento por'
'Lo siento por'.
Whenever we say thanks or sorry for something in Spanish,
it is always because of something that has just happened.
Thanks because of what you did
or I'm sorry because of what I did.
It's never thanks in order for something to benefit
or sorry in order for something to benefit.
So we have to go with, 'por', with thanks and sorry.
Okay. Last example, before we get back to the sentence
at the start of the video.
I have to work for my boss on Saturday.
Now this is the trickiest example so far
because there are two scenarios
and the boss kind of benefits from both.
But admittedly, one is more direct than the other,
and this is the key with this example.
Now, imagine the boss normally works on Saturday,
but can't because they're about to go on a ski trip,
and you have to work in their place instead.
So we could reword this sentence to, I have to work
on Saturday because of the ski trip my boss is going on.
Therefore in Spanish, (Andrew speaking in Spanish)
Right, as you can see from this example,
the boss does benefit from your work, but not directly.
In this example you weren't directly there,
physically helping them in some way,
but in contrast, it could be, I have to work on Saturday
in order to help my boss finish the project.
Here the boss may really need your help
because there's a lot of work that has to get done
and so you are there directly helping them.
Therefore in Spanish (Andrew speaking in Spanish)
So hopefully you're starting to get an intuitive
understanding for 'por' and 'para'
in this one area that tends to cause the most challenges
around motivation.
Right, now we can return to the example
at the start of the video.
So we have (Andrew speaking in Spanish)
We now know that its not 'for' and 'for her',
but "because of", and "in order to" her.
But this example doesn't quite make sense in English
so we need to keep thinking about it.
Now, this example is derived from an article
that I read many years ago
about a father that was caring for his daughter,
as she moved into a career in the spotlight.
She attributed a lot of her success to the sacrifices
her father made for her.
Now, there are a lot of things that her father was doing
to directly support her, things like, cooking her dinner
or physically taking her to her auditions.
So in those situations, when he is directly helping her,
the things he's doing are 'para ella', right.
They are "for her", but in a direct way.
But some of the things he was doing,
she didn't directly benefit from.
Maybe he was working hard in his job to get a promotion
so he could afford to send her to different places later.
But that hard work that he was doing, that extra phone call
or stuck in the show for sending that extra email
isn't going to directly affect her,
so in this situation, all of these activities
are 'por ella'.
They are because of her,
but she doesn't directly benefit from that hard work
that he's doing.
So if we're gonna translate this sentence to English
we might wanna say something like he does everything
to directly and indirectly support her.
Now I know that we don't always express ideas
like this in English, Q Brian Adams here.
♪ Everything I do, I do it for you. ♪
- So you can see from this song
that we could collapse this English sentence
into he does everything for her.
And I think this is probably the most literal
and direct translation to English
but it's worth thinking about the concept of direct
and indirect support being the translation
of 'por' and 'para'
because it really helps us start to intuitively
understand 'por' and 'para' and how they behave in Spanish.
All right. So that was a lot.
This is a heavy topic.
How do you feel about it now?
Do you feel like you can better understand sentences
like (Andrew speaking in Spanish)?
If so, leave a comment below and let me know.
Now for the other uses of 'por' and 'para',
should I do another video?
Should I cover 'por' and 'para' in situations like opinions
and time of day and recipient and expressions, right?
If you'd like me to do that, again leave a comment below
to let me know.
As always if you enjoyed this video, give it a like
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Also, if you want more tips like this
we have a weekly newsletter
called (Andrew speaking in Spanish).
To sign up for the weekly newsletter
I'll leave a link below in the description.
All right, so thanks so much for watching
(Andrew speaking in Spanish)
And until next time (Andrew speaking in Spanish)
(upbeat music)