Are Por and Para the same?

Question

I am working on my Spanish project

and I made a setence in Spanish
= Nosotros fuimos a Florida para nuestras vacaciones.

I have a question here...
should I use para or por ?,,, or...are they the same?
I am really confused. If they are different please teach me
when to use para or por... and for my sentence what would be appropriate?

Answer 1

No...

It's hard to explain the difference and a native speaker almost instictively "knows" the difference but can't understand it.

I'll give it a shot:

Por is a preposition that implies direct relationship, a connectivity. There is no true action. It indicates the idea of going through something. It's how you demonstrate authorship. Here are some examples.


Tengo dinero por tí.
La Biblia fue escrita por Dios.
Andele por la puerta.

Para is a preposition that indicates change, or an exchange as the type of relationship between objects. You use para "in order to" get something.

Trabajo para ganar dinero.
Dios escribío La Biblia para edificar a los humanos.
Andele por la puerta para llegar al otro lado.

I would think to use 'por' in the example that you gave. *However*, if I were carrying on a conversation in Spanish (which I do every day) I would use para---only because it makes sense to think that I went to Florida **in order that** the trip be my vacation. I would also advise you to wait for response from a native to see if what I've explained matches his or her 'instinct'.

I've studied Spanish for years but I can't always reconcile my 'instinctual' language with my intellectual language. My professors told me that "it just sounds better" is NEVER an appropriate grammatical explanation.........so there you have it.

Answer 2

Por and para are not the same. They are different words. Just because we use the same word in english, we have the idea they are the same. They aren't.

You were right in your sentence - PARA nuestras vacaciones.
It's too long of a lesson to explain it all here. It would take me hours in my spanish class to teach the differences in por and para. Your teacher should be able to explain, if they know the language they speak.

Answer 3

Use para.

It's hard to explain, but por and Para both mean for...but in different ways. My advice is that if you're not sure, err on the side of para.

Answer 4

the answer is PARA

and yes por and para are different.

It is difficult to explain because we do it automatically, but I think loboconq did a great job explaining it.

Answer 5

para would be the correct answer.

Answer 6

you use para.