Para

Today I'll try to explain a word that I believe could be pretty confusing to most foreigners trying to learn spanish, because of its many diferent meanings. I'm talking about "para".

If you know some spanish, some translations for para could come to your mind, like "for" or "to", and you're right. Just like these words are prepositions in the english language, "para" is one in spanish as well.

But if you ever go to Spain or any other spanish speaking country you'll hear "para" in many different contexts, here I'll try to explain another meanings of this word, very common in everyday speech. First we'll see a few examples in order to seize the idea that para conveys:


Para - Indicating purpose or intention


 - Hago esto para tu propio bien.
 - I do this for your own good.

Here para can be translated into for because it's expressing an intention, and answering to the question "What for?" - "For your own good."; "¿Para qué? - "Para tu propio bien." I'd even dare to say that every time you can ask the question "What for?" and answer it starting with "for", be sure that the spanish translation will use "para".

 - Enciende el microondas para calentar la comida.
 - Turn on the microwave to warm up the food.

Para can't be translated to for in this example but the idea is very clear, I'm telling you to turn on the microwave for a reason, there's a purpose in that action so the question "what for?" fits pefectly there.

 - Mañana iré a la piscina, necesitaré mis lentes para nadar.
 - I'm going to the pool tomorrow, I'll need my swimming googles.

There's not a precise translation for "para" in this example, but what it expresses is the purpose of the googles, because they're not any kind of googles, they're swimming googles, and that's what "para" indicates. Here the question "what for?" kinda doesn't work, because you're not talking about an action and a purpose for that action. An example with that case would be the following:

 - "What are you going to the pool for?"
   "(for) swimming."

 - "¿Para qué vas a la piscina?
   "Para nadar."

Again, para here expresses the intention of something or someone to do something, it has nothing to do with the swimming googles :). More examples:

 - Zapatos para correr
 - Running shoes

 - Tijeras para podar
 - Pruning scissors

 - Arnés para escalar
 - Climbing harness

As you can see, "para" explain the purpose of these objects. Although sometimes you'll need some context to understand the whole idea, for example, imagine that you're late again for work and you have to run to bus stop as fast as possible or you'll miss the next bus, but you don't like to run with your nice shiny black leather shoes, so you say:

 - Tendré que usar estos zapatos para correr.
 - I would have to run with these shoes.

See the difference here? Here you're talking about using your nice shoes for running, because there's no choice. But now imagine that it's a sunny sunday morning and you feel like jogging around the park, you may say:

 - Usaré mis nuevos zapatos para correr.
 - I'll use my new running shoes.

Now we're talking about running shoes, it's all about context in these two examples. I hope I make it clear enough.




Para - The straight foward "for".

This is the para you'd read in a chirstmas present tag. I think it can be easily translated to "for" in every context, here some examples:

 - Las camisas verdes son para Pedro.
 - The green shirts are for Pedro.

 - Compré una nueva cocina para ti.
 - I bought a new stove for you.

 - Las sobras son para el perro.
 - The leftovers are for the dog.


Para - Expressing time.

There are three not so different circumstances in spoken spanish where para is used when talking about time, they're more like fixed expressions, so there's not much to analyze, but they're really common. The main idea of purpose that para conveys is not so obvious but it's still there.

 - Podríamos vernos para la próxima semana si es que no tienes tiempo mañana.
 - We could see each other the next week if you don'thave any time tomorrow.

 - Tendré el dinero listo para el 15 de Enero.
 - I'll have the money ready for the 15th of January.

Asking "What for?" doesn't work here because there's not a purpose being expressed, but a date in the future, and that's exactly what para does in these examples.

There's this sort of fixed expression which expresses how long is an action or event going to take:

 - "¿Cuánto tiempo demorarás con eso?"
   "Tengo para rato"

 - "How long are you gonna take with that?"
   " It's gonna be a while"


Finally, para is used very often when people tell the time , so this is very important.

 - Un cuarto para las cinco.
 - Quarter to five.

 - Veinte para el mediodía.
 - Twenty to noon.

Here para works as if it would be trying to say: "There's 15 minutes left to reach 5pm", that's the whole idea of para in this situation, which is pretty much the gist of the word. Consequently, you could say:

 - Faltan treinta kilómetros para el pueblo.
 - There's thirty kilometers left to get to town.

I'm not 100% sure about if my english translation is correct, but I hope you get the idea. There's many more  examples and fixed expressions with "para" but I'll try to cover them in the second part of this article. I didn't realize that the word was gonna be so broad, anyway.


Para - To stop.

I almost forget about the para that comes from the verb "parar" which means "to stop", but not in he broad aspect of the english word.
Parar has the idea of stopping an ongoing process, or the moving of an object.

 - Debes parar el auto antes de la siguiente calle.
 - You have to stop the car before the next street.

 - ¿Can you stop being such an idiot?
 - ¿Puedes parar de ser un idiota?  THIS IS WRONG.
 - ¿Puedes dejar de ser un idiota?

In the second example, parar doesn't work because being an idiot (at least in this context) is not an ongoing process or a movement, saying that sentence would sound just too weird. Instead, you say "dejar" which means "to leave", and that's the correct word for this case, and every time you talk about behaviour, so to speak.

So "para" would be the imperative of "parar", or the order "Stop!" = "Para!" which is almost exclusively used when you want something or someone to stop a movement...

 - Stop the car!
 - Para el auto!

 - Stop talking please.
 - Para de hablar por favor.

But para is also the conjugated form of parar in third person:

 - Buscaré la dirección mientras él para el auto.
 - I'll look for the address while he stops the car.

 - Entonces... ¿Simplemente para de funcionar?
 - So... It just stops working?

This one is pretty straight foward so I think it doesn't need further explanation... Aaaand the last one:


Para - To stand up.

This is the para that means to stand on your feet. I'd say it comes from the verb "parar"  as explained above, but it has a total different use.
If you've ever seen these -me, -te, -lo, etc. endings on a verb, what they're indicating is, who is being affected by the verb. And this is very important because they are used in everyday speech when people talk about standing up in the future.

 - (Yo) Voy a pararme.
 - I'm going to stand up.

The -me ending is telling you who is the action being inflicted on. In this case, the person who's speaking.

 - (Él) Va a pararse.
 - He's going to stand up.

Here, the -se tells you about a third person, so the action will affect "him". Which brings us to this other way of saying it:

 - Él se para.
 - He stands/is standing up.

People don't say this as often as they'd say it in future, because it would be just weird to say "I stand up" before getting up the chair, we talk more like in future for small actions like this, but now you won't be surprised if someone says it otherwise.

If you have any questions please leave me a comment, I'd be glad to answer them all. See ya!