Coffee Break Spanish - CBS 2.21 | Using "for" in Spanish

Episode Date: September 1, 2010

Lessons 21-23 will look at the thorny issue of por and para: by the end of these three lessons you’ll be confident in knowing exactly when to use which word! In lesson 61 we’ll introduce both words and consider various situations when the words can both be translated as 'for'. Please note that lesson 21 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 221 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.This season of Coffee Break Spanish features a total of 40 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the podcast to enjoy each episode. If you’d like to benefit from video versions, lesson notes and bonus audio materials, you can access the premium version of Coffee Break Spanish in the Coffee Break Academy.Don’t forget to follow Coffee Break Spanish on Facebook where we post language activities, cultural points and review materials to help you practise your Spanish. Remember - a few minutes a day can help you build your confidence in the language. Access the Coffee Break Spanish Facebook page here.If you’d like to find out what goes on behind the scenes here at Coffee Break Languages, follow @coffeebreaklanguages on Instagram.You can also check out our Coffee Break Spanish Twitter page and the Coffee Break Languages YouTube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, good days, how are we? Welcome to Coffee Break Spanish. This is Lesson 61. And in this lesson and the next couple of lessons, we are actually going to be talking about a particular difficulty in Spanish. And that is the use of por and para. Both these words mean for, in different situations. And by the end of this lesson,

you'll start to understand exactly when to use each of the two words. I hope you find this lesson useful. Well, Kara, tell me, what did you during the vacations? I'm a

concert with Antonio. Ah, so Antonio was still on the scene then. Oh, yes. Okay,

my question was, what did you did you did you did you're in what you're now, if you're,

or isiste, comes from which verb? Acer. Acer or Acer. And Acer or Acer, means, to do

yeah there's also another meaning of acer can you remember what that is to make yeah so athair can mean to do or to make and in the preterate tense it's irregular can you remember how the parts of acer go

I see did it'se I did most it'ses iti okay so in addition to going to a concert with Antonio which we'll come back to you've also been studying some Spanish verbs

yeah Sure that yes. Very well. What did you do during the vacations? What did you do during the holidays? Preterate tense, Iciste or isiste. Now, your answer was,

Fui at a concerto with Antonio. So, Fui, which verb is that from? It's from ear. I'm from ear. And here in the preterate is conjugated as follows. Kara's got to do it for us. Fue, Fue-Mos, Foustes, Fueron. Fueron.

Fue, Fue, Fis-de-Fue. Fue-st-Fue. Fue-Mos, Fuestis, Fueron. Fue-Mos, Fuestis, Fueron. Okay, I'm going to explain something here, and this is a bit random. We had a post, somebody posted on iTunes and a review on iTunes, and they said something along the lines of, why on earth can't Kara answer immediately?

Does she need that much time to think? Well, I have to say that at the moment, my hand, I'm holding my hand up to prevent Kara from answering, although she knows these answers. So that gives you, the listeners, time to answer the questions. It's not that she needs lots of time to think. It's because we're giving you time to answer the questions before Kara answers them. So that's the reasoning behind that. She's not very slow. Sometimes she has, but...

Anyway, okay, getting back to Ser. No, it's not Ser. It's ear in the preterate tense. Why did I think it was Serre there? Because it conjugates the same in the preterate. Exactly. Ser and ear are exactly the same in the preterate. Fuis, foistte, foe, fiemos, fieste,

foeuro. So you said, I went to a concerto. A concert. Exactly. Concierto, Latin American Spanish, of course. It would be concerto. Fui a un concerto con Antonio. And who is Antonio?

My novio. Is your novio. So if any listeners are just joining us, Kara, has a noviour. Okay, so he's Antonio, is Spanish,

and is a guy? Well, it's quite that's quite, I know okay,

what more, what more did you during the vacations? We're also at the

cinema? At the cinema? Okay, then, to be a a what

movie, what movie vistas? And of course is Vistais from there,

another irregular verb in the preterate so Vistis, what film did you

see, what film did you see? we must step up to the streets well I know this movie is a movie well what about the movie?

The ballet? The ballet? Yes. Well, I mean no I don't like this type of movie, of all the modes. Okay, and well what more? What else did you

did you during the vacations? One day we gave us a Wurta a Loughlomond Very so that's from Dar Una Wolt

which of course means to go for a run or a drive Dar a Wulta and where did you go Lough Lomond the Lago de Lomond I suppose we could say

Loch Lohomid is a beautiful beautiful loch in the west of Scotland and if you're ever in Scotland you must come and see Loch Lomond so one day

one day we went for a drive to Lohlomond very very well tell when when you

know when I'm what time what time did so my question

was what time or what was the weather like

or literally what weather was it doing what time and Kara replied

A sol Acia sol Okay so it was sunny so so

Acia sol Yes, but no I saw much cold Very well No

didn't much cold No wasn't very warm But for the least

no No Okay For the No No Okay It means

At least For the For the Minos For the Mens Three words For the

No For the less. For lo menos no jovia. For the menos no, no, lovia. That's from the verb, yover, which means terrain. So, lovia in the imperfect tense here,

because we're talking about what the weather was like, it was raining, and I'm saying, for the less no lovia. At least it wasn't raining. For no lovia. For no lovia. And something else?

Did you something during the vacations? Yes. I'm going to say My Amiga Celebrada Very bien So how do you say birthday again?

Okay, the word is Cumpleaños, and it's actually made up of two words In Spanish, Complier, which is the verb To Complete or to Reach And anos Meaning years So Cumplea anosos

it's kind of the number of years you have reached. Okay, so cumpliaños, her birthday. So do you want to give me the whole phrase again that you were saying there? Yes, I'm going to say a funerrava, my amiga, celebras, so you could say celebrava if you're using Latin American accent or celebraba if you're using a Spanish accent. So, I'm a fiesta, my amiga, celebrava, my amiga, celebrava, her cum laude

or celebrada her cumpliownos very so she was celebrating her birthday

okay I've got a question for you that's going to test your indirect object

pronoun that we did recently what you did recently. What did a your

a big a little a book and a pulser

and a pusser a bracelet, yeah? see. Le didiste a

libriro and a polserra so to her I gave a book and a bracelet.

My question was what to her did you give as a present? In next week's lesson we're going to be looking at a different way

of giving people's presence but we'll talk about that later okay. At the moment we're just talking about

dar a alien a So to give to someone a present. Okay, we'll be back in just a moment. Now, if you'd like to get more out of your coffee break Spanish experience, then you can sign up for the full premium version of our course, and that includes video versions of our lessons, where you'll see the words and phrases on the screen of your device while you listen. There's also a set of lesson notes for every lesson with vocabulary and additional examples, and bonus audio. All of our premium courses are available.

at the Coffee Break Academy. That's at coffeebreakacademy.com. Okay, let's get on with the lesson. So, let's get a one libra and a psalera. I'm going to use this context now to talk a little bit about, first of all, para, okay? As you're giving something to someone,

you could say, this regalo, which would mean... This present. Okay, this present, this gift. is for you. Is for you? Yeah, in English, it's a literal translation.

Es para ti is for you. This regalo is para ti. This regalo is para ti. Now, that para there, the reason we use para is because we're talking about, if you like a destination, the destination of that present is for you. So, Kara, this regalo is for you.

The destination of the present is you. It's for you. Grazie. De nada. Okay, so we could say, for example, this book is for Miguel. Can you work that one out, Kara? This book is for Miguel. Very well.

This book is for Miguel. So with this book, This book is for Miguel. How would we say this house is for Marta? This casa is for Martha. Very well. This, because it's one a casa, so it's not this, as in this, this is for Martha.

Perfect. How would we say this letter is for all of you? This card is for you. Exactly. You would say, this carda is for vosotros. If all of you are male or indeed a mixed group, this carda is for vosotras, if you're all female. And indeed if you're in Latin America or if you're in Spain and you want to be

polite, then you would say, this carda is for us today. So we're talking about the destination of the letter, the book, the house, the present and so on. Another example where we would be talking about destination and using para is when you're saying you're leaving for somewhere. Okay, so I am leaving for France, for example. If you're leaving or you're going out, what's the verb that we use for going out or to leave? Salir. Salir, exactly.

So this verb is actually irregular in the present tense. It starts with salgo. Salgo. Salgo Yeah, it's one of those soft G sounds So it's quite a l Salgo Salgo

That of course varies depending on which part of the Spanish-speaking world that you're in So I am leaving for France How would you say that? Salgo Para Francia

Exactly Salgo Salgo para Francia Salgo Salgo para Francia Okay How would you say for example this afternoon

I'm heading out, I'm setting off for Madrid. This tardy Salgo para Madrid. Yeah, but would you say Madrid? Or would you say Madrid? Madrid. Absolutely. This ta'clock for Madrid.

This time, salgo para Madrid. And that's a good lesson really to remember that when you come across a word that you're familiar, with in the English language, you make sure you pronounce it in a Spanish accent. This time, I'm a bit funny. This is I'm going to say, I'm going to Madrid. Salgo para Madrid.

Very well. Okay. So that's situations where we would use para. Getting back to, this regalo is for you. This present is for you. Let's think about what you would say in return to that. So, Kara, this regalo is for you. And if you wanted to thank me for the present,

then you would say, Graziez por el regalo. Graziez por el regalo. Yeah, Grazie is always for. Okay? The Abba song, we're getting back to Abba again. The Abba song, thank you for the music.

In Spanish is, thanks for la music a very useful phrase if you ever need to burst into song thank you for something thanks for in fact por in one of the most obvious and easy to remember uses of por

is when you're exchanging something for something okay that may sound a bit strange so for example I could say you're canvian my CD for your

book. Okay, listen to that again. Kieres change my CD for your book. So that means do you want

you want, you want, to change my CD, my CD, my CD, for your book.

Or, you're book. Yeah. So do you want to change my CD for your book? So do you want to do a swap? Do you want to exchange something for something else? And in that exchanging situation, you use por. Here's another example of something quite similar. I'm going to buy the casa for 150,000 euros. Okay, so we're talking about buying things for a certain amount of money. I'm going to buy a car for 150,000 euros.

I'm going to buy a house for 150,000 million, mil, euros. Euras. Euras. It's quite tricky to say that.

I'm going to buy a casa for 150,000 euros. Let's think about how that works. Basically, I'm exchanging the house for 150,000 euros. So I give you 150,000 euros, you give me the house. It's just the same as the changing the CD for the book. And in actual fact, when you really think about it, it's the same as exchanging my thanks for the present. You give me the present, I'll give you my thanks. That makes sense? It does. I'd rather have 150,000 euros. Okay, so it's always gratis for because you're exchanging your thanks for the gift. And when we're exchanging CDs for

books and houses for 150,000 euros, then it's always this back to the same bor. And that's where we're going to leave it today for this edition of Coffee Break Spanish. Thanks for joining us, and we hope it's been useful. You can join the Coffee Break Spanish community on Facebook at Facebook.com slash Coffee Break Spanish and follow at Learn Spanish on Twitter. Thank you. And, after pronto. This is a production of the Radiolingua Network. Find out more at Radiolingua.com.