Spanish: An Essential Grammar

Uses of por

(a) Porindicates the agent ‘by whom’ or ‘by which’ an action is initiated,

thereby introducing the agent or ‘doer’ in passive constructions:

Fue invadido por los romanos.It was invaded by the Romans.

(b) Por indicates the reasonor causewhich initiated an action. In English

this is frequently ‘because of’, ‘on account of’, ‘through’, ‘for’:

Me gusta por lo fácil que es. I like it because of how easy it is.

Lo admiro por su paciencia. I admire him for his patience.

Por estar enferma no pudo Through being ill she could not

venir. come.

(c) Pordenotes time during or throughout which an action takes place,

often English ‘for’:

Piensa venir por un mes. He intends coming for a month.

Note: When the specific action of the verb takes place during the whole period of

time mentioned, durante‘during’ (or no preposition) is used. In the example above,

venirand ‘coming’ do not take place for a month. The real meaning is ‘coming’ and

then ‘staying’ for a month. Compare:Voy a hablar durante una hora‘I will speak

for one hour’,Estuve en Londres dos días‘I was in London for two days’.

(d) Porindicates a place through which movement takes place, ‘through’,

‘via’ or ‘along’:

Tuvimos que salir por la We had to go out via the

ventana. window.

Caminaba por la selva. I was walking through the

jungle.

22.1^1111

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1011

1

12111

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

20111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

30111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

40

41111

22

Porand para

234

Translating ‘for’

Spanish sentences such as Lo hice por tisometimes confuse foreign

speakers. In fact, it is an example of the above use with the meaning

‘I did it because of/on account of you’. For Lo hice para ti ‘I did it

for you’, see 22.2(a).