Por y Para

[Anniesantiago]

I really like these little videos on YouTube explaining some of the more troublesome Spanish words for those of us learning. Here is one that really helped me on "por" vs "para."

 

[LauraK]

Great video Annie! I speak a little Spanish mostly remembered/learned from my high school Spanish and living in Texas. I listen to conversational Spanish on my computer before I leave for my caminos too, but find I often misuse words (and grammar too). On my recent Camino I was walking with a young Spanish man from Barcelona for a few days. After telling him several times that I was "caliente" he finally informed me that I should be saying "calor" and that the difference was one meant I was warm and the other was slang for meaning I was hot for sex! I had a good laugh about that one...asked him why he waited three days to tell me. He said he thought it was funny and was enjoying my Spanish.

 

[mspath]

...On my recent Camino I was walking with a young Spanish man from Barcelona for a few days. After telling him several times that I was "caliente" he finally informed me that I should be saying "calor" and that the difference was one meant I was warm and the other was slang for meaning I was hot for sex! I had a good laugh about that one...asked him why he waited three days to tell me. He said he thought it was funny and was enjoying my Spanish.

The same confusion exists in French. Say Il fait chaud/ It is hot and never Je suis chaud/I am hot!!

 

[Seabird]

I really like these little videos on YouTube explaining some of the more troublesome Spanish words for those of us learning. Here is one that really helped me on "por" vs "para."

What a coincidence! I met with my Spanish tutor last week and asked her to explain "por" versus "para."

 

[Seabird]

Great video Annie! I speak a little Spanish mostly remembered/learned from my high school Spanish and living in Texas. I listen to conversational Spanish on my computer before I leave for my caminos too, but find I often misuse words (and grammar too). On my recent Camino I was walking with a young Spanish man from Barcelona for a few days. After telling him several times that I was "caliente" he finally informed me that I should be saying "calor" and that the difference was one meant I was warm and the other was slang for meaning I was hot for sex! I had a good laugh about that one...asked him why he waited three days to tell me. He said he thought it was funny and was enjoying my Spanish.

Yes, as my Spanish tutor told me when I made the same mistake: Always say "Tengo calor" not "Yo soy caliente."

Maybe the young man was really hoping you actually meant caliente.

 

[peregrina2000]

I haven't watched the video, but I remember my high school first year Spanish teaching telling me that when in doubt use para not por. I think we English speakers gravitate to "por" since it shares two letters with "for," thus making it the obvious choice.

 

[SYates]

The same confusion exists in French. Say Il fait chaud/ It is hot and never Je suis chaud/I am hot!!

Unless you are sitting in a bar and looking for company ;-) SY

 

[Anniesantiago]

These same folks have one on "ser" vs. "estar" which is helpful.
Actually, the entire series is pretty good.
I can't find Lesson 1 - it appears to begin with Lesson 4 - but the series is free and helpful.

 

[C clearly]

I really like these little videos on YouTube explaining some of the more troublesome Spanish words for those of us learning. Here is one that really helped me on "por" vs "para."

Thanks - The por/para one is good. I'll watch some more of them.

 

[Icacos]

......Always say "Tengo calor"

I'm sure I was taught to say, "Hace calor" or "Hace mucho calor," but that was way back when. Have things relaxed a bit? Or does it depend of which Spanish speaking country one is in? Just wondering ....

 

[Seabird]

I'm sure I was taught to say, "Hace calor" or "Hace mucho calor," but that was way back when. Have things relaxed a bit? Or does it depend of which Spanish speaking country one is in? Just wondering ....

I don't know -- I'll ask!

 

[Marc-P]

I'm sure I was taught to say, "Hace calor" or "Hace mucho calor," but that was way back when. Have things relaxed a bit? Or does it depend of which Spanish speaking country one is in? Just wondering ....

I believe: Hace calor/frio = It's warm/cold (the weather). Tengo calor/frio = I have it warm/cold.

 

[Icacos]

I believe: Hace calor/frio = It's warm/cold (the weather).

Tengo calor/frio = I have it warm/cold.

Yes, I get the first bit. But I remain unconvinced about the second bit......unless it is a regional thing.

 

[clearskiescamino]

Aha Gordon is getting some recognition
Cynthia and himself do great work for those learning Spanish.

 

[C clearly]

Yes, I get the first bit. But I remain unconvinced about the second bit......unless it is a regional thing.

??? I don't think so. Here is an occasion when Google translate gets it wrong. The literal translation of "tengo calor" would be "I have heat", which is different but still quite logical.

 

[Icacos]

Hmmmm....perhaps "Hace calor" means "It's hot," and "Tengo calor," means "I'm hot." ("Soy caliente" means something else. )

 

[sabbott]

Thanks for sharing these, Annie. I'm reviewing beginning Spanish using the Pimsleur method, which is quite helpful, if repetitive (though maybe that's why it's helpful?) I haven't gotten to the calor/caliente distinction yet....

 

[Anniesantiago]

Hmmmm....perhaps "Hace calor" means "It's hot," and "Tengo calor," means "I'm hot." ("Soy caliente" means something else. )

Ask Ivar or one of the native speakers on this forum

 

[Anemone del Camino]

The same confusion exists in French. Say Il fait chaud/ It is hot and never Je suis chaud/I am hot!!

Well, je suis chaud also means, in Quebec, I am drunk

 

[C clearly]

Hmmmm....perhaps "Hace calor" means "It's hot," and "Tengo calor," means "I'm hot." ("Soy caliente" means something else. )

That is correct. (But I'm not a native speaker!)

 

[Christian Hiriart]

Hmmmm....perhaps "Hace calor" means "It's hot," and "Tengo calor," means "I'm hot." ("Soy caliente" means something else. )

You are correct, the best is to use "Hace Calor"
Chris

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Yes, I get the first bit. But I remain unconvinced about the second bit......unless it is a regional thing.

No, not a regional thing. Hace calor is a general statement about the weather/temp. For ex. If it's35C. you would say hace calor. Tengo calor is about how you feel. It could be 10below, but if you are dressed too warmly you may feel too hot, and you would say tengo calor, even if hace frio.

As for caliente, it's the state of an object, how it feels to the touch. A hot plate = el plato esta caliente.

So it would go like this: hoy va hacer calor. Anuncian 35 grados. Espero no tener calor, pero ya se que la carretera se va poner caliente. Today will be hot.I hope not to be hot, but I know the tarmack will be hot. All three ways of saying it in Spanish! Voila!

 

[Icacos]

No, not a regional thing. Hace calor is a general statement about the weather/temp. For ex. If it's35C. you would say hace calor. Tengo calor is about how you feel. It could be 10below, but if you are dressed too warmly you may feel too hot, and you would say tengo calor, even if hace frio.

As for caliente, it's the state of an object, how it feels to the touch. A hot plate = el plato esta caliente.

So it would go like this: hoy va hacer calor. Anuncian 35 grados. Espero no tener calor, pero ya se que la carretera se va poner caliente. Today will be hot.I hope not to be hot, but I know the tarmack will be hot. All three ways of saying it in Spanish! Voila!

Thanks very much for this explanation. Are you able to also clarify the bit about "Soy caliente." (See @LauraK 's #2 post above.) This is important as one never knows when such knowledge may prove useful.

 

[Lachance]

??? I don't think so. Here is an occasion when Google translate gets it wrong. The literal translation of "tengo calor" would be "I have heat", which is different but still quite logical.

To be fair to G, it translates 'I feel hot' as tengo calor which seems to be correct. Same usage as tengo hambre, tengo sed etc.

'I am hot' produces the more risqué soy caliente. But being hot is also ambiguous in English without context in modern speech, although a person would not normally describe him or herself as hot in the newer sense one hopes. That is a judgment for others to make. Even if self description is the intention, soy caliente is rather ambitious. Estoy caliente maybe...

If you ask G how to translate 'animal on heat', it forsakes calor forms and uses en celo. Celo then translates as 'zeal' which is rather sweet if not the best translation.

Edited to add another nerdy remark

 

[Gareth Griffith]

If you're interested in learning a bit of Spanish before you go I can recommend Duolingo (do a google search!) It is a web-based learning system which you can take at your own speed and has the fantastic benefit of being entirely free, gratis and for nothing! It has very good reviews.
The nice thing about the Spanish people is that they will correct you eventually if you keep getting it wrong.

 

[SYates]

I second the https://www.duolingo.com recommendation, additionally it is also great fun and pretty addictive. Buen Camin, SY

 

[Anemone del Camino]

If you ask G how to translate 'animal on heat', it forsakes calor forms and uses en celo. Celo then translates as 'zeal' which is rather sweet if not the best translation.Edited to add another nerdy remark

Ah, another can of worms and dangreous territory: tener or sentir celos & estar en celo. To feel jealousy or to be in season, in the animal world .

 

[Castilian]

hoy va hacer calor. Anuncian 35 grados

As this is a thread for Spanish learning, let me correct a typo on your post: hoy va a hacer calor. Anuncian 35 grados.

Today will be hot.

You forgot to translate the second part of the above quoted: They announce 35 degrees. A non literal translation like 35 degrees are forecasted would make more sense for a native English speaker?

The literal translation of hoy va a hacer calor would be today is going to be hot. OTOH, the literal translation of Today will be hot would be Hoy hará calor. I quote the literal translations just to help learners to associate each verbal form with the equivalent in the other language because, in Spanish, hoy va a hacer calor and hoy hará calor are used indistinctly depending on the speaker (and even on the speaker mood).

Are you able to also clarify the bit about "Soy caliente."

I'll give it a try although I'm not sure my English is good enough... Anyway, let's see if it makes some sense:

Estoy caliente=I'm horny (I'm sexually excited/aroused)
Soy caliente=I'm lustful/a sex lover

 

[Icacos]

Thank you for clarifying all this @Castilian.

My! How far we have walked since por y para!

 

[mylifeonvacation]

I also like Duolingo for the basics. A great video series I found online is Gringo Espanol. Podcasts (audio or video) are also available for free (I download via iTunes). The travel videos may be particularly helpful for those traveling to a spanish speaking country perhaps for the first time, as he shows actual interactions with local folks in a vareity of spanish speaking countries. Buen Camino!

 

[lbpierce]

I'm sure I was taught to say, "Hace calor" or "Hace mucho calor," but that was way back when. Have things relaxed a bit? Or does it depend of which Spanish speaking country one is in? Just wondering ....

We say "hace calor" here in Mexico.

 

[Castilian]

We say "hace calor" here in Mexico.

...and you also say tengo calor.

I mean, it's the same in Spain both hace calor and tengo calor are used but they don't have exactly the same meaning. anemone del camino explained the difference between the meaning of hace calor and the meaning of tengo calor on a previous post:

Hace calor is a general statement about the weather/temp. For ex. If it's35C. you would say hace calor. Tengo calor is about how you feel. It could be 10below, but if you are dressed too warmly you may feel too hot, and you would say tengo calor, even if hace frio.

P.S.: Something that may seem obvious for some learners but not necessarily for other learners and that we didn't say yet is that the tengo of tengo calor is first person singular of present in indicative mood of the verb tener. For other persons and/or moods and/or tenses and/or aspects and/or numbers you must use the relevant conjugation of the verb tener for that person, number, tense, aspect and mood. OTOH, the hace of hace calor, altough it's a conjugation of the verb hacer (third person, singular, present tense, indicative mood), can change of tense and/or aspect and/or mood but it's always third person singular because hacer in that expression is conjugated as a verbo impersonal.

 

[jnoval]

By the way, you don't really say "soy caliente", either for temperature or state of arousal. Others have explained "Tengo calor/hace calor" perfectly, but to say that you are aroused sexually, or in more common terms, I'm horny (in the US), you say "Estoy caliente". Avoid saying that, stick to "tengo calor=I'm hot, because of ambient temperature" or "hace calor=It's hot, also because of temperature", and you will be fine. Hope this helps.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

There is a difference between hace calor & tengo calor. Hace is a general stame t: ypu look at the thermometer in the morning and it's 5 degrees above normal, then it haces calor. Don't you love Spanglish? Tengo has to do with how YOU feel. It may be 5 degrees below normal temps, but if you have just climbed up O'Ceb in the middle of winter, or are a woman "going through the changes" in her bikini in Greenland in February, then you may "tener calor".It's from the person's perspective, not the scientist nor the thermometer.

 

[jppreston]

Thanks for that video, anniesantiago!
I'm fairly conversant in Spanish, after spending a lot of time in Colombia over the last several years, but the difference between por y para has always been confusing. I've asked a lot of people but most native speakers can't really articulate the differences - like many grammatical rules in English, the proper use just sounds right to native speakers. The rules of thumb mentioned on the video are really going to help.

Another confusing topic is the use of Ser and Estar in the past tense. This is fairly complicated because of having to decide between the Preterite and the Imperfect form and then using the proper conjugation. I found a rule that works 90% of the time created by a University Spanish Professor. Here it is.

 

[Gareth Griffith]

Thanks for that video, anniesantiago!
I'm fairly conversant in Spanish, after spending a lot of time in Colombia over the last several years, but the difference between por y para has always been confusing. I've asked a lot of people but most native speakers can't really articulate the differences - like many grammatical rules in English, the proper use just sounds right to native speakers. The rules of thumb mentioned on the video are really going to help.

Another confusing topic is the use of Ser and Estar in the past tense. This is fairly complicated because of having to decide between the Preterite and the Imperfect form and then using the proper conjugation. I found a rule that works 90% of the time created by a University Spanish Professor. Here it is.

jjpreston, thanks for that very useful link which took me back 45 years to the class room at Kings School Macclesfield studying Latin and listening to the teacher drone on about the past imperfect and the pluperfect!
Michel Thomas in his Spanish courses (still available although Michel himself is long gone) talked about a "dot in the past" something that you did once as a way of distinguishing which tense to use.
Personally I am working my way through Duolingo and will be happy to master the present, simple past and future by the time my Camino starts on April 14th 2016.

 

[Lachance]

jjpreston, thanks for that very useful link which took me back 45 years to the class room at Kings School Macclesfield studying Latin and listening to the teacher drone on about the past imperfect and the pluperfect!
...
Personally I am working my way through Duolingo and will be happy to master the present, simple past and future by the time my Camino starts on April 14th 2016.

Crikey, good luck with that in the time frame, unless you mostly have it already or you're a hyperpolyglot. Spanish conjugations remind me a lot of amo, amas, amat too. But I don't remember any preterite in Latin. You can always use 'ir a' instead of future tense. Non native English speakers get by fine with only present tense. Indicative only too, no subjunctive/conditional that seems to be so commonly used in Spanish.

I'm off on Apr 11 and palabras y frases trump tenses for me.

 

[Michael Caleigh]

My partner is spanish and we are married now five years. We speak spanish only at home and in the beginning we had a few laughs as I said the weirdest things. Now I don´t even have to think anymore. Well done to all learning another language and spanish is beautiful.

 

[jppreston]

Con mi caballo hablo en alemán, con las damas de la Corte italiano, para las asuntos de hombres en francés, pero para hablar con Dios el español. - Charles V