Pura vida - PROGRAM SAMPLER

Sección 2 | ciento setenta y uno 171 Expressing intention, motive, and movement: The prepositions por, para, a, de and en Prepositions are connectors between words. You already know some prepositions, such as en to express location, or the preposition por in many fixed expressions such as por favor , por ejemplo or por fin . Por and para are two prepositions that are generally translated as for in English. However, they have different meanings in Spanish. A. Use por to... • express duration of an activity (although you can omit por in this case, or use durante instead); for this reason por is always used in fixed expressions such as por la mañana , por la tarde , por la noche : Camina ( por/durante ) diez minutos Walk for ten minutes more or less . más o menos. Todos los días Alexis corre Everyday Alexis runs for an hour . ( por/durante ) una hora. Por la noche duermen en el Hotel Colón. At night they sleep in Hotel Colón . • indicate the reason or motive for an action (as in because of or in behalf of ): Alexis decide visitar Nicaragua por su interesante historia arqueológica. Ahora que Alexis está en Nicaragua, le gusta muchísimo por su gente. Alexis decides to visit Nicaragua because of its interesting archeological history. Now that Alexis is in Nicaragua, he likes it a lot because of its people . B. Use para to... • express what something is intended for: Alexis compra una mochila para su viaje. También compra muchos regalos para sus padres. Alexis buys a backpack for his trip . He also buys a lot of presents for his parents . • express purpose or goal (as in in order to ), in which case it is followed by an infinitive: Alexis va a Nicaragua para estudiar antropología. Para entender las direcciones a la casa de Moisés, tiene que preguntar a varias personas. Alexis goes to Nicaragua to study anthropology . In order to understand the directions to Moises’ house, he has to ask several people . C. To talk about movement through space, use por , para , en , a , de in the following way: • Use por to express movement through, on or along a place: Camina por esa calle tres cuadras más. Tienes que pasear por el centro; es precioso. Walk on that street for three more blocks . You have to walk around the city center; it is beautiful . • Use para to indicate movement towards a destination: Toma la carretera norte y continúa para Managua. El autobús para la UNAN sale a las 9 de la mañana. Take the north road and continue towards Managua . The bus going to the UNAN leaves at 9 am . • When discussing means of transportation, use en : Alexis va a hacer el tour arqueológico en tren. Los padres de Alexis van a llegar en avión. Alexis is going to do the archeological tour by train . Alexis’s parents will arrive by plane . Hablando de gramática 1 Animated Grammar Tutorial