SPANISH GRAMMAR: POR vs. PARA

[Lesfleursdumal919]

El vídeo está muy trabajado y es bastante claro, pero permíteme hacer un apunte. Cada vez más se está extendiendo el significado que tiene el inglés el verbo "discuss" como "discutir" en español, cuando debería traducirse (y usarse) por lo que en realidad significa, que es "debatir", "hablar".

[esaudio]

@Lesfleursdumal919 En español "discutir" tiene dos significados diferentes: "intercambiar ideas" y "pelearse". ¿Es eso a lo que apuntas?

[ihateu508]

thank you soo much! (: 

[ThaBigBlackTrain]

I may actually pass spanish now haha, GREAT VIDEO!!!!

[jazzysnazzy8]

muchas gracias julio!



[yumyumluckycharms]

LOL! Thats not a torta, es un pastel!

[biggestplanefan]

@yumyumluckycharms In spain they say torta! In Mexico they say Pastel!

[SanDyta7]

@biggestplanefan No, no, in Spain we say PASTEL or TARTA (cake). We don´t say TORTA.

[mjdayetube]

This covers most common usage of por y para.

[lilazn239]

When You said, "We are going to Spain" you wrote "Vamos para Espana." Couldn't you also write "Vamos a la Espana"?

[esaudio]

Thanks so much for all the positive comments and feedback!

[glenneveaux]

Julio. Muchisimas gracias. Hablo un poco espanol, pero, your teaching style and demeanor is very comforting and supportive; along with being user friendly. Gracias a ti.

[egorboston]

Great explanation. Without complicating the things. Thanks a lot!

[sarablack10]

Thanks for that. Thats how i originally learned por and para. All of para's reasons, and por for everything else!

[cpt884]

What about when expressing employment or from contrasting what is expected? are not those also para and don't really fit into these 4 categories?

[fleetfooted]

Great video - clear and informative. Thanks!

[gustosraros]

"Por" is used when expression cause (because of...), although there are other uses.

[LithAmoniel]

95-98%? AND MORE? Holy shit, guys... We're in for a hell of a lesson.

[3rlinarojas]

I'm from indonesia, i like this vidio.. can you translt to indonesia????????

[mylomejordelomejor]

muy bien profesor, te felicito

[mylomejordelomejor]

muy bien, buen video  profesor. felicitaciones por su labor-

[mylomejordelomejor]

very good: muy buen video, felicitacione profesor

[kc24jack]

Such a life saver!! My teacher is horrible and doesn't teach, thank you for explaining this and helping me get 100 on the quiz! ;)

[beninperson88]

@kc24jack let me guess this teacher isn't hispanic but white?

[EmberflyLayouts]

Yes! thank you so much for this video! That is a really confusing aspect of spanish (just like ser vs estar), but thanks to you I will understand it now! YAY :D

[HHaircare]

hello, thank you for ur helpful videos.

I have a question for the sentence "Elle va para la escuela" it means she does at the moment ok speaking ?

[esaudio]

@HHaircare Thanks for the comments. It could be now, or it could be something she always does.

[1rsalc]

@HHaircare: "para" here indicates direction. "ella va" means now, or it could be something she always does.

[LilianaLovesYou]

I literally watch this video before every Spanish test. Thanks so much, it's so simple and makes so much sense!

[kless001]

You just explained Por vs. Para with more clarity than my Spanish instructor did this morning.  ¡Buen trabajo!

[jarettdaferret]

Oh the powers of youtube! This makes so much more sense.

[bahykubo07]

Gracias por este! This is sooo much easier than the sheet of paper my teacher gave me.

[Alliballet93]

wow this was great!! it is really helping me review old spanish lessons i forgot thanks!!

[BeachBabe0609]

This SAVED MY LIFE! I'm watching it literally 30 minutes before my test and I think I can pass it now. *feliz* *comienza bailar*

[kissyhot1]

what does illamaron mean by itself exactly? Is it slang? I never like asking ppl questions but I cannot get the answer from google translate also I google'd it, and tried "illa maron". What does

[aleccuster1]

@kissyhot1 Llamaron is simply the plural, 3rd person preterite tense of the verb llamar, which means to call.

[roseeleven]

this is awesome!!! my hubby's grandma doesnt like to speak english and im scared to use my poor spanish grammar with her!!! u r a big help!!!

[bezraznizu]

Its a good video, and you did a great job explaining the majority of para. I would recommend adding two small parts onto para though, as I don't believe this covers all:

To be on the verge of (about to do something)

Comparisons

keep up the great work!

[Brettnyt]

one of the few things i consistently second guess myself in spanish...

great to hear it put so simply

[kevinleonardo5]

Julio tumbs up, eres un buen maestro.... yo se 100% español por que yo vivo en mexico, soy mexicano y creo que es muy bueno que los americanos se enseñen a hablat español.... FELICIDADES ERES UN BUEN MAESTRO

[reagansmash68]

Julio I like your style. My spanish teacher made me feel like I was going to law school way too many rules. Thanks for helping me pass my final exam.

[esaudio]

@reagansmash68 Great!!! I am glad to hear that! Best of luck!

[Farfeb]

I don't need these Spanish grammar videos. Me and brother got a Cuban engineer as a dad and a Honduran scientist as a mom to teach us.

[esaudio]

@Farfeb Great!

[spankface]

@esaudio then stop wasting your time

[ex0rdium]

@Farfeb hey where can I get one of those? :)

[hoboskater691]

@Farfeb do you want a cookie or something??

[MadhuriLove]

muchas gracias

[UJB123]

Excellent lesson. Great way to teach. 5 rules are much easier to learn and remember than 15.

(Side note don't forget one-sided comparisons for "para".)

Once again excellent lesson!

[fgmd18]

the man who speaks is a native spanish speaker, isn't he?

[1alvarouribe]

@fgmd18 sure,but people souldn learn from them, they are just 47 millions

[DontLikeDontWatch]

Gracias. Quiero saber espanol bueno, pero es dificil comprender algunos hechos tal como este. Ingles es my idioma primera, pero quiero ser bilingue.

[esaudio]

@DontLikeDontWatch Excellent! Learning a second language is always a challenge, but a good one! It is thrilling and can take you to placed you have never ever could have imagined! Congrats to you for your interest in such amazing passion!

[EvucciaSantacroce]

I loved this video... you just semplified everything!! :) thank you very much!!! besos

[esaudio]

@EvucciaSantacroce Thanks for your words! by the way, if SER and ESTAR still cause you a headache, check out my latest video!:) Happy Spanish learning!

[dogsarebetter]

I'm subscrbing!!!!

[esaudio]

@dogsarebetter :)

[DTZTD]

Genius! Just remember para and you'll know when to use por! Muchas Gracias Amigo!

[esaudio]

@DTZTD Thanks for your words! If you liked this one, the latest one on SER and ESTAR move along the same lines. Best of luck!

Julio

[TPFights1]

thanks!!

[TPFights1]

thanks!!

[barbiegurlforever]

i think this will help me in my writing exam :D

[esaudio]

@barbiegurlforever Don't forget to tell me how you did! Good luck!

[mtl8484]

thank you for the help great video

[reicc]

Could not be more clear

[Vizzpat]

Very helpful. This hits the nail on the head! Thanks very much.

[esaudio]

¡Muchas Gracias!

[Vizzpat]

Very helpful. It cuts to the chase. Thanks!

[thatlazyslacker]

You can also say, ella va a la escuela. "A"

can replace "para".

[YourClare]

can we say "vamos a Espana""?

[tjyui]

yes

[nilsenrum]

Excellent - thanx to this explanation I finally "got it"!

[AdamRTurner]

Great video! Succinct and helpful. I had a professor only confuse me further when I asked about this, but this video makes it muy facil.

[SlusionProductions]

Check out our rap song to this! It's right in the description! >>>

[Uchifan]

"And use por for everything else" LOL that makes it simple!

[madfrog101]

Very helpful keep the videos coming!

[hothotshortie08]

The way my teacher explained this was so confusing and he's giving us a test on it tomorrow. Thank you so much for the help!

[weerry]

same here thanks for the help, i have a por y para test tomorrow.

[chelsea12009]

gracias!

[crazylady546]

thank you sooo much u just saved me and i might actually not fail my por para quiz tmrw.

[esaudio]

You won't fail I am sure! My students, many of them at college, never fail using this simple strategy! Good luck!

[dwayneflex]

This is very helpful, must say.

Can you make one of the subjunctive as well?

[esaudio]

Hi, thanks for your comments. Yes, it is in my wishlist. I am going to create one on the differences between the Preterite andthe Imperfect and after that, I will pluck up courage to create one on the subjunctive. lol. You know, that is a wild beast to tame!

[larrythelame]

gracias por este video es mi fuente de informacion de mi clase de espanol por que es un video muy bueno en mi opinion por vs para es facil (now)

[esaudio]

Muchas gracias por tus palabras. Espero que te sea muy útil.

Julio

[afrogirlandfamily]

I've learned spanish faster watching these videos than any other way I've tried!

[esaudio]

I have removed all comments not related to this video.

Thanks,

Julio

[tikafabulous]

how to you say "excuse me" when you want to pass by someone?

[esaudio]

"Discúlpeme" is the phrase you would use.

[tikafabulous]

gracias, I have been using con permiso.

[esaudio]

"Con permiso" is perfectly alright too! :)

[xFramm]

"Con permiso" is more used.

"Discúlpeme/discúlpame" have two meanings .. One of them is what you've said and the other one means something like "forgive me".

[efis3444]

disculpeme = to seniors,to. boss, mother , father , all abobe us

disculpame = persons like we , friends , bro, known etc...

[muskt18]

Thank you for these lessons

Gracias [para]? estas lecciones.

[muskt18]

Thank you for these lessons.

Gracias [para]? estas lecciones.

[esaudio]

You are very welcome!

[froycruz123]

is gracias por estas lecciones

[froycruz123]

is gracias por estas lecciones

[ourrein]

I was wondering for the cake one, isn't pastel cake and torta a sandwich?

[esaudio]

Yes, these two words change a little bit from region to region. Fortunately 95% of the language or more is the same everywhere!

[loserchick1520]

Thank you. That was very very helpful.

[Squabbles10]

Do you have a programme for me over here in Australia ?

[jpbackintown]

I understand this only because i know a good bit of spanish already, however, i don't think this video is good for people who don't know much spanish, so i would learn basic spanish and then come back to this video if you're not that good.

[esaudio]

Hi,

Thanks for your comment. If you look at minute 1:03 it shows the video is intended for intermediate to advanced learners. It really doesn't make much sense to focus on this if you are just starting, as there are many other things that are much more important at that stage. Thanks again for your comments and happy Spanish learning!

Julio

[jpbackintown]

Right, sorry i didn't even see that. I guess i must be intermediate then:D.

[justinhairystud]

thank you this is my biggest issue in spanish!

[esaudio]

A pleasure to be of help! Thanks for your comment!

[kingocarina]

vamos para españa?

I was taught that you have to say "Vamos a españa"

[esaudio]

"A" emphasizes destination whereas "PARA" direction. They are both okay.

[tjmadd1030]

Para decir "because of" se tiene que decir "a causa de"

[angell0127]

gracias! su respuesta es util!

[TheGeralLara]

"a causa de" no se usa mucho, al menos aqui en Venezuela (: creo que lo puedes sustituir por "Por" :)

[crohani]

ty :D

[angell0127]

can anyone tell me which one refers to "because of"???

[nemoisthename67]

para.

[angell0127]

gracias!

[fmichaelb]

@angell0127

"Por que" means because of. And if you put question marks around it (and an accent mark on the e) then "por que" means "why?" 

[aLeJaNdRoInTeRaCtIvE]

look. when you use "porque" without accent means "Because" and when use ¿Por qué? that means "Why?" ok

porque whitout accent is the answer to why.

example:

Q: ¿Por qué tienes un perro?, that means Why do you have a dog?. A: Por que me gustan mucho. that means Because I like it a lot.

[rctriplefresh5]

i thought hacia meant i used to do something. also im still confused on what you use por for i guess i will just use para for now onse.

[Seikenkun]

hacía (with the accent on the i) means i used to do sth.

hacia (without accent) means towards. :)

[s1a2r3a4tan]

hacia means towards

are you thinking of 'solia' as in soler is to usually do something so solia is I used to do something...

[jarrodflack]

Excellent, another minute spent on POR examples would help the learning experience!

[esaudio]

Let me tell you, work on PARA and you do not need any examples for POR. Try it! Thanks for your comments.

[toutchoukourou]

Noo I think we need some examples for POR. "POR" favor!

[nemoisthename67]

ahahaha i agree

[trikixurris]

he detectado un error... when is used to Destination, we used to use the preposition "A" vamos a Madrid, es más común que usar para, aunque sí que es correcto

[esaudio]

Lo que dices es interesante. PARA es correcto, pero también se usa A. No es un error pero es verdad que se usa más frecuentemente A en ese caso. Gracias por tu aporte.

[TopillaoGrana]

se usan tanto "a" como "para". Yo normalmente digo " pa' ". Vamos p'allá o "¡tira ya pa' la casa!" pero muchas otras veces uso "a" depende de como suene, normalmente

[newplanet15]

Excelente voy a estudiar con sus leciones muchas glacias.

[ricardoromerov]

la explicacion del para esta bien pero tiene algunos fallos. no se dice ella va para el colegio, sino ella va al colegio

[esaudio]

Es correcto decir "Ella va PARA el colegio" al igual que "Ella va AL colegio" y "Ella va HACIA el colegio."

PARA o HACIA enfatizan más la dirección mientras que AL hace más énfasis en el destino.

Gracias por tus comentarios.

[KantoIkari]

La explicación de POR me dejó relativamente insatisfecho, pero creo que el conflicto entre preposiciones, como en cualquier otro idioma, se soluciona practicando y c*gandola. Entendiendo el uso de A, QUE, PARA, POR y DE entiendes el español en su totalidad hehe, buen video

[pratalno]

this is very good.. thanks!!

[paaablx]

i'm spanish, and i really like this, i've learned a lot, thank you. muy bueno los videos, gracias

[champaperga]

Good job.

[Isaachtft]

Buen Trabajo !

[LittleKey93]

thank you, this was very helpful =).

[frappuccinofan39]

muchas gracias esaudio this topic can be somewhat overwhelming but you made it easy to understand

[donttry101]

thank you so much.

[love4stories]

Hello. I just wanted to say that this was a very good video that you created. My only problem with it was that I wanted a little more specific details on the uses of "por". Like, I do understand that if it's not "para", then it's "por", but it would have been helpful to know what "por" is used for. So if you explained that as well, I think it would help me a little.

But other than that, it was very simple and helpful!

[esaudio]

Thanks for your comments. I use this material with VERY advanced students and they really have no problem to tell the difference at all. It is true that at a very advanced level you may want to see POR in detail but so far that is something I am working on exclusively with my private students and I am not planning to make a video on POR in the near future. But I am sure you will find plenty of good materials online, at least in a text format. Sorry for not being able to help you more. Good luck!

[sebtamgeospa]

Thank you! This is super helpful!

[esaudio]

I do appreciate your comments. Thanks!!

[gopher786]

In my modest opinion in the reality of a situation there is no time to go mentally trough a checklist, there is no time to think to the grammar, the learning should be intuitive,(even if I'm italian , so for me it is easier to learn spanish) anyway it is a useful video, thank you!

[esaudio]

Hi,

Thanks for your comment. You have an interesting point there. Let me explain. Ifyou work around basic concepts like the one expressed here, and you systematically use this checklist whenever in doubt, you will eventually do that analysis without hesitation in a fraction of a second. I've been using this technique successfully with my students for over four years now, and the more you use it the faster your reaction becomes,from having to stop to analyse at first 2 just doing it in milisecs

[esaudio]

You have to bear in mind that a traditional approach gives students AT LEAST around 20-30 uses of POR PLUS the uses of PARA, just consider that. IT causes students lots of doubt and confusion and prevents them from speaking fluently as many are forced to stop and go through a mental checklist...a VERY long one that is indeed impossible to use on the spur of the moment and causes a lot of mental stress.

Again, thanks for your comment.

Julio

[hunkydorimatty]

shocking how much this 5min vid helped me...my teacher proposed the same idea...take me for example...i have 3 days until my final in advanced spanish and im doing horribly in the class...but this is what my teacher said, if you dont have enough time to learn every individual use of por and para its best to focus on just para or por...i think your vid foes this very well! rock on..ill be watchin all your vids over and over this weekend!!!

peace

[esaudio]

Awesome to know it has helped you! It is rewarding for me to create this material and even greater to receive comments like yours. Thanks!

Julio

[dianaa333]

¿de dónde eres, julio?

[esaudio]

De Argentina, pero actualmente vivo en Carolina del Norte, EE.UU.

[caffeine1]

The lesson outlined the uses of para very nicely. This is excellent learning material. Good job there.

But to say, at the end, that "por falls under all the cases we haven't covered" is absurd. While it's a "cute" ending, it really doesn't teach anything. Surely even a single example of using por in a sentence would've been a good idea?

Still, if ratings had been allowed, I would've given 4 stars for such a good treatment of para.

[esaudio]

Thanks for your comments and feedback.

[infokicker]

muchas gracias por el video gratis

[esaudio]

De nada. Es un placer.