Lesson 52: Para as 'In order to', two ways to say 'I was' and more 'ing' stuff
We'll cover a lot in this lesson. Using Para to say 'In order two', two different ways to say 'I was' and how to change a word into an 'ing' ending.
Para - "In order to"
Continuing to uncover the difference between 'Para and 'por' here is what we know so far:
Por:
- "because of"
- "for [periods of time]"
- "to exchange this for that"
- "eight times eight" as "eight for eight".
We've only covered how 'Para' can mean "for you" - "I bought this for you" but 'Para' can also be used when you need to say (or mean) "in order to". The bracketed words are important here - "or mean" - because sometimes in English we mean "in order to" but we'll use slightly different words to say it.
The takeaway is that if "in order to" would fit in English (even if we wouldn't say it, then we use 'Para' in Spanish.
 Spanish |  English |
|---|---|
| Lo compro para ti | I am buying it for you |
| Hemos hablado para resolverlo | We have spoken (in order) to resolve it |
| Hemos hablado para intentar resolverlo | We have spoken (in order) to try to resolve it |
| Estoy aquí para verte | I am here (in order) to see you |
| Te he llamado para hablarlo | I have called you (in order) to speak about it |
Negative Language Transfer
"Negative Language Transfer" is when we think something would work in Spanish but it is a "false friend" that we talked about in the pervious lesson.
But false friends work both ways and they can be useful. If you talk to a Spanish speaker in English its always good to listen out for clues about how things are said in Spanish via the mistakes they make in English.
For example Spanish speakers with basic English might say "I am here for to see you" and this gives us a clue that some form of "for" would be needed in the Spanish version of the sentence.
In short never let any interaction with a Spanish speaker go to waste even if you are talking in English!
'Estar' recap
So we've looked at 'estar' as the verb needed to say I am doing something right now or it is going on at the moment.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Estoy comiendo | I am eating |
| Estoy hablando | I am speaking |
| Estoy explicando lo | I am explaining it |
| Lo estoy explicando | I am explaining it |
| Estoy tomando un curso de español | I am taking a Spanish course |
Another thing you may have noticed is that 'Explicando' doesn't look right. If we follow the "thinking method" we would find "Explanation", take off the "tion" and add "r" to get 'explanar' but this is an exception where the Spanish actually comes closer to the English "inexplicable".
Another interesting thing to know is that 'plicar' means "to fold" in Latin and this has partly been taken into Spanish with "explicar" meaning literally "to unfold"!
'Estaba' - another way to say "I was"
Now if we put 'Estar' into the past tense that represents a line in the past (a period of time) we take of 'ar' and add 'aba' to get 'Estaba'.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Estaba tomando un curso de español | I was taking a Spanish course |
This means we actually have two ways to say "I was taking" when we talk about a period of time in the past rather than an event:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Estaba tomando | I was taking |
| Tomaba | I was taking |
| Estaba comiendo | I was eating |
| Comía | I was eating |
You might want to just concentrate your learning on one of these to begin with but its important to know both as both will appear in spoken and written Spanish.
Talking about verbs
In English we tend to say "Dancing is healthy" and so use the "ing" form the verb "to dance". In Spanish we say "To dance is healthy".
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Bailar es saludable | Dancing is healthy |
| Nadar es saludable | Swimming is healthy |
Making verbs into adjectives (a word that describes things - "big","red", etc.
Its common to make verbs into adjectives in English. We take "To interest", add "ing" and that can then describe something as "interesting".
We can do the same in Spanish:
- for 'ar' verbs - take off the 'ar' and add 'ante' ('interesar' -> 'interestante')
- for 'ir' verbs - take off the 'ir' and add 'iente' ('vivir' -> 'viviente'
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Interesante | Interesting |
| Iritante | Irritating |
| Es iritante | It is irritating |
| Frustrante | Frustrating |
| Un ser viviente | A living being |
Remembering days of the week
In English we have "Sunday" referring to "Sun", "Monday" refering to "Moon" but then the connection trails off a bit. In Spanish it lasts longer and so can help us remember the names of days.
- 'Lunes' ("Monday") - refers to 'la luna' ("the moon")
- 'Martes' ("Tuesday") - refers to 'marte' ("Mars")
- 'Miércoles' ("Wednesday") - refers to 'mercurio' ("Mercury")
- 'Jueves' ("Thursday") - refers to 'júpiter' ("Jupiter")
- 'Viernes' ("Friday") - refers to 'venus' ("Venus")
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Lunes | Monday |
| Martes | Tuesday |
| Miércoles | Wednesday |
| Jueves | Thursday |
| Viernes | Friday |