The difference between “por” and “para” has been troubling Spanish learners since the dawn of time. If you are a Spanish student, you definitely know what I’m talking about. In fact, most Spanish learners continue to struggle with these two tiny P words even after years of study, so I suggest that you keep this post handy for future reference. Because today, I’m going to break down por vs. para for you, once and for all.

First, let’s consider that “por” and “para” can mean many different things in English, one of the meanings is “for”, but they can also mean “by”, “through”, or even “to”. Before focusing on different situations in which you would use one or the other, let’s talk about one of the most important things that you have to understand in order to logically choose the correct word: timelines.

 

The timeline method

I hate rote memorization. Personally, I’m the worst at this and I think that there are much better ways to learn Spanish.

Using the timeline method, students should be able to tell when to use por vs. para without having to memorize lists of random situations. But remember: this is not a rule, it is a technique.

Now let’s get down to business. Organizing the timeline is extremely important to understand grammar tenses, but also to understand when to use por vs. para. One of the main uses for these words is to refer to the reasons behind why we do things.

We will use “por” if the reasons happen prior to the action; and we will use “para” if those reasons are goals of the action. In other words, “por” sentences can often be phrased with “because” while “para” sentences can be phrased with “in order to” or “intended to”.

For example:

• “Josefa se fue de la casa por tener muchos problemas con los vecinos.” – Josefa left the house because she had many problems with the neighbors.
• “Josefa se fue de la casa para dejar de tener problemas con los vecinos.” – Josefa left the house in order to stop having (for stop having) problems with the neighbors.

Notice that both sentences give basically the same information. However, one gives a prior reason 1) “Josefa was having problems with her neighbors, then she left”; while the other refers to what will happen after the action is performed 2) “Josefa left and then she will stop having problems with the neighbors”.

As you noticed in the example, the difference is less in the meaning and more in the “phrasing”. Most sentences that use “para” can be paraphrased with “por” and vice versa.

Now let’s review some other examples of por vs. para:

1. “Josefa escribe un ensayo para mañana.” – Josefa writes an essay for tomorrow.
2. “Josefa compró un regalo para su madre.” – Josefa bought a present for her mother.
3. “Josefa va para México.” – Josefa is going to Mexico.
4. “Esta novela fue escrita por Josefa.” – This novel was written by Josefa. 

All of these situations can be deduced with our timeline method. As you have read before, most sentences with “para” can be closely paraphrased with “por” and vice versa; this means that we will find an alternative for each of these.

Josefa escribe un ensayo para mañana: The first one refers to a deadline, it uses “para” to mention a future situation (the submission of the essay)

Josefa compró un regalo para su madre: This implies a future action. There is an object, and that object has a recipient. That object was either purchased, found, made, or simply has to “exist” in order to be “given” to someone.

If we want to use “por” to communicate something similar we can say: “Por querer darle algo a su madre, Josefa compró un regalo” – Because she wanted to give something to her mother, Josefa bought a present. Here, as well, a previous motivation makes her do something.

Josefa va para México: This sentence is telling us that Josefa is doing something (traveling) in order to reach a final destination (Mexico).

How could we phrase this with “por”? Maybe something like “Josefa viaja por querer llegar a México” – Josefa travels because she wants to go to Mexico. Remember that this “paraphrasing” needs some creativity and lateral thinking!

Esta novela fue escrita por Josefa: The fourth example mentions that our friend Josefa wrote a book, so it refers to the past.

This example, as well, can be phrased with para if we say something like this: “Josefa escribió para terminar un libro” – Josefa writes in order to finish a book. Here she did something to achieve a future goal.

Pretty logical, right?

Sorry, but our amazingly logical bubble is about to burst.

Now we’ll talk about the exceptions to our technique. As I mentioned before, most of the examples that we have discussed so far can be paraphrased with both prepositions. This is not the case with our exceptions, where only one version applies. In addition, for these cases there is no chronological relation among what comes before and after “por” and “para”. The great news is that our timeline method explains most of the por vs. para uses, and the situations below are much less frequent.

 

EXCLUSIVE USES OF “POR”

First, we’ll cover the exclusive uses of “por” that may refer to time, space or exchanges. This uses are a little bit random, so it is good to have them listed:

• Means of transport and communication

This has already been explained, but let’s see some more examples for the sake of clarity and symmetry:

– “A Josefa no le gusta comunicarse por correo electrónico” – Josefa doesn’t like to communicate through email.

– “A Josefa no le gusta nada viajar por avión.” – Josefa doesn’t like at all to travel by plane.

• Passing through

If you have to go through the park in order to get to the mall you’ll say:

– “Voy por el parque.” – I go through the park.

• Periods of time

If you’ll work for three hours you will say:

– “Trabajaré por tres horas.” – I’ll work for three hours.

If you have lived in Russia for five years you’ll say:

– “Viví en Rusia por cinco años” – I lived in Russia for five years.

• Exchanges

This is a very general word, you can exchange money for goods and services, but you can also exchange one thing for another (trade), or an activity you don’t really like for a different one. Let’s see some examples:

– “Josefa compró un pantalón por veinte dólares.” – Josefa bought a pair of pants for twenty dollars.

– “Josefa cambió el pantalón por una camisa.” – Josefa exchanged her pants for a shirt.

– “Josefa se cansó de practicar natación y cambió por boxeo.” – Josefa got tired of swimming and switched to boxing.

 

EXCLUSIVE USES OF “PARA”

Now we are going to take a minute to cover the exceptional uses of “para”. It may literally be a minute because there are only two:

Opinions

When you want to say “in someone’s opinion” you’ll use para. For example: