Por vs Para in Spanish: Rules, Chart and Practice Quiz
By Michael McGettrick and Sergio Linares-HernandesUpdated 12 October 2026
points forwards: to a goal, a person who gets something, a destination, a deadline. points back to a cause, or through: a route, an exchange, a means.
Quick check
Three quick questions on what you have just read. The full practice is further down.
Spot the mistake
0/3Each sentence uses the wrong word. Tap it.
.- I study (in order) to learn. The goal ahead..- Thanks for the help. The cause behind.
The por vs para chart
The whole system on one screen. Everything below is detail.
| Use | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | . | I study to learn. |
| Recipient | . | It's for you. |
| Destination | Madrid. | I'm leaving for Madrid. |
| Deadline | . | It's for tomorrow. |
| Opinion | , . | For me, it's easy. |
| Cause | . | Thanks for everything. |
| Exchange, price | . | I bought it for ten dollars. |
| Route, through | . | I walk through the park. |
| Means | . | I'll ring you. |
| How long | . | We talked for an hour. |
| Roughly when | | in the morning |
Para: looking ahead
Every looks forward to something not reached yet:
| Para for | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| a purpose | . | I'm coming to talk to you. |
| a recipient | . | I bought a present for my mother. |
| a destination | Madrid . | I leave for Madrid tomorrow. |
| a deadline | . | I need it by tomorrow. |
| an employer | . | I work for a company. |
| an opinion | , . | For me, it's the best. |
| a standard | , . | For a child, he speaks very well. |
The commonest is + infinitive, "in order to". English often leaves the "in order" out, so it is easy to miss:
.- I work (in order) to earn money.
Por: the cause, the route, the price
looks back at what caused something, or at what something passes through:
| Por for | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| a cause | . | I didn't go because of work. |
| thanks, sorry | . | Sorry about the noise. |
| an exchange | . | I'll swap my book for yours. |
| a price | . | I sold it for a hundred dollars. |
| a route | . | I went along your street. |
| a means | . | I'll send it to you by post. |
| the doer | . | It was written by her. |
| a rate | | a hundred kilometres an hour |
| around a place | ¿ ? | Is there a bank around here? |
The doer in a passive takes : the person who did it is the cause of the action. The construction itself is on the passive with ser.
Por and para with time
Time is where English for pulls hardest the wrong way. is a point you are heading towards, a deadline. is a stretch of time: how long, or roughly when.
por dos horas: how long it lasted (por)
por la mañana: roughly when (por)
para el lunes: the deadline (para)
Timeline from past to future, with now marked.
| Time idea | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| a deadline | . | I need it by Monday. |
| how long | . | I studied for two hours. |
| roughly when | . | I'll be back in the afternoon. |
for how long is correct, and very common in Latin America. In Spain you will more often hear , or nothing at all:
.- I studied (for) two hours.Madrid .- I lived in Madrid for three years.
For something that started in the past and is still going on, Spanish uses a different construction altogether: 2020. The hace and desde page has it.
Mistakes English speakers make
| Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
| . | . | thanks look back: a cause |
. | how long is | |
| Madrid. | Madrid. | a destination is |
. | in order to is | |
| . (a gift) | . | you get it: |
. | a deadline is | |
. | a means is |
Madrid is not wrong Spanish; it means "I'm going out around Madrid", or " Madrid". If Madrid is where you are heading, it is .
What to do next
- Before every for, ask: forwards (
) or back and through ()? - Do the story and spot-the-mistake drills below.
- Then por and para pairs: