Spanish · Chapter 28 · Lesson 4 · Grammar primer
Por vs para
On the AQA A-level grammar list.
The short version
Para points forwards, por points back
Stop translating 'for' and start thinking about direction. Para points forwards to a goal, a recipient, a destination, a deadline. Por points backwards or sideways to a cause, an exchange, a route. Estudio para ser médico is the goal ahead; estudio por mi familia is the motive behind. Hold that one contrast and most cases resolve themselves.
Estudio para ser médico.
Gracias por, and por for how long
Two habits worth breaking today. Thanks always point back at a cause, so it is gracias por, never gracias para. And duration is por: estudié por dos horas. Para is reserved for the deadline, the by-when, as in lo necesito para el lunes. Mix those two up and you have said something quite different.
Gracias por la ayuda.
That's the gist. The full article goes deeper - more examples, the edge cases, the why - and the practice below scores like a vocabulary session and earns the same XP.
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10-question session
One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end. There are 40 in all: practise more afterwards if you want them.
Lesson 4 of 11 in this chapter