SPANISH-ENGLISH
3.por points to the cause, motive, or reason for an action and corresponds to the English "through" (along, around), "by" (expressing agency, means, manner, unit of measure) and "for" (meaning "on account of", "because of", "in exchange for", "during", "as").
4.para points to the end or objective of an action and corresponds to the English "for" denoting purpose or destination.
5.por and para are frequently misused by foreign students of Spanish. English "for" is translated in each case into Spanish according to its specific meaning:
| "This present's for you." | Este regalo es PARA Ud. |
| "Do it for me." | Hágalo POR mi. |
1.31Coordinate conjunctions are: y "and", o "or", ni "nor", pero "but" (nevertheless), and sino "but" (on the contrary).
1.y "and" is replaced by e when the word immediately following begins with i or hi: franceses e italianos "Frenchmen and Italians"; padre e hijo "father and son".
2.o "or" is replaced by u before o or ho: siete u ocho "seven or eight"; mujer u hombre "woman or man".
1.32Subordinate conjunctions are: que "that", como "as, since" (causal), cuando "when", mientras "while", pues(que) "for, since", porque "because", and si "if, whether".
1.que, the most widely used subordinate conjunction, introduces noun clauses. In addition to its conjunctive uses, que is also a relative pronoun (§1.24) or a comparative adverb ("than"). Unlike Spanish, "that" is very often omitted in English:
| Quiero que venga. | "I want him to come." | |
| Creo que se ha ido. | "I think he's gone." | |
| Me parece que si. | "I think so." | |
2.si "if, whether" is used to introduce adverb clauses of condition.
3.sí "yes" bears a written accent to differentiate it from the conjunction si, and is an adverb of affirmation: Le pregunté si iba y me dijo que sí. "I asked him if he was going and he said yes."
1.4Adverbs of manner may be formed by adding -mente (which is the equivalent of English "-ly") to the feminine singular of the adjective: lento, -a "slow"; lentamente "slow, slowly".
Prepositional phrases are preferable in Spanish to the adverbs ending in -mente: con lentitud or de una manera lenta instead of lentamente.
1.41Adverbs are placed as near as possible to the verb they modify: Habla bien el español. "He speaks Spanish well."
1.42aquí "here", ahí, allí "there", allá "over there" correspond respectively to the demonstratives este, ese, and aquel.
1.43no "not" corresponds to English "do not", "is not", etc, and the adjective "no".
1.no is placed before the verb: No oigo. "I don't hear."
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