Mar
24
Estar por vs. Estar para
If you’ve been studying Spanish for even only a short period of time, you probably already know that the two prepositions por and para are a bundle of trouble. It can be confusing to know when to use them. One could write a book on the subject.
In any case, that’s not what today’s entry is about exactly. This Spanish grammar tip focuses on two specific uses of por vs. para when paired with the verb estar. Estar por and estar para both generally mean “to be about to” but with different nuances. It may seem rather narrow but actually the phrases that you can build using estar por or estar para are very common and extremely useful.
Estar por
Use the preposition por with estar when you want to indicate one’s intention of doing something. This intention isn’t always clearly defined. It’s a more of a feeling or an emotional response in support of taking action. In English, the equivalent phrase would be “to feel like (doing something)” or, more formally, “to be in favor of.”
For example, imagine a situation where you’re angry or annoyed. Your downstairs neighbors are blasting their music. You say to your girlfriend, “Estoy por bajar al piso de abajo y decirles que quiten la música.” (”I’m about to go down to the apartment downstairs and tell them to turn off the music.” )
Here’s another scenario: You have a blind date and have spent 30 minutes in a cafe waiting for your date to arrive. As the minutes pass, you’re pretty sure you’ve been stood up and are seriously considering leaving but unsure whether you should try to text message the person or leave a note with the waitress. As you’re mulling this over, your blind date arrives. Later on, you tell a friend that “Estaba por abandonar el sitio cuando llegó.” (”I was about to leave the place when he arrived.” But with the meaning that I was thinking of leaving, not that I was actually leaving.)
Estar para
This construction is used to indicate that an action is on the verge of happening. Estar para is another way of saying estar a punto de.
Using the same blind date example from above, if you were to say “Estaba a punto de salir, cuando llegó” or “Estaba para salir….” you are saying that you were literally on your way out the door when your date arrived.
Other examples:
Está para llover. (It’s about to rain.)
El concierto está para empezar. (The concert is about to start.)
El autobús está para salir. (The bus is about to leave.)
Nice explaination. Bit technical, but alright :).
For me, reading a lot worked. Now I somehow know what to use, don’t know how it comes, but it’s correct. It just pops into my head.
So, because of the emotional aspect of estar por, with inanimate objects, like a concert or bus, it’s always estar para and never estar por?
According to Butt & Benjamin, in Latin America ‘estar por’ is used in the ‘on the point of’ sense: e.g. está por llover.
Is there a good way or rule to distinguish between the particular uses of “por” and “para” like there is between “ser” and “estar”? Any tips or helpful resources that could guide me in the right direction?
Also, great post! “Estar por” and “Estar para” are definitely a great addition to any Spanish-speakers’ vocabulary!
@Rmss, you’ve found The Secret to improving one’s Spanish. Reading in Spanish (newspapers, magazines, novels, etc.) is really the way to go to understanding the usage and cementing one’s knowledge of the language. I wish more people would do this. So many people get hung up on just wanting to speak, not realizing how much faster they could progress overall if they would only read more Spanish.
@ Erik, I’ve heard the “estar por” construction used with inanimate objects but with the idea that somebody needs to take some action. For example, “el coche está por arreglarse,” which in English, depending on the context of the conversation, would mean “the car should be fixed” or “the car still needs to be fixed.”
So to answer your question, yes, I think you can use estar por with inanimate objects if you want to convey this sense that a human needs to take some kind of action involving that object.
Remember, however, that “estar por” can also be used in the context of giving an approximate location. For example, “los precios de los pisos en España están por las nubes” (Apartment prices in Spain are sky high) or “Mi bolí está por aquí.” (My pen is around here somewhere.) Those are totally different contexts from this idea of “about to.” I didn’t mention those previously because I didn’t want the original blog entry to get too bogged down.
@Graham, thanks for the additional info! I’ve been so thoroughly indoctrinated by the castellano from Spain that I’m often not aware of some of these regional differences in the language between Spain and Latin America.
But my brain still needs a way to categorize these type of nuances, so for me, I’d view “estar por llover” as “looks like rain” (sky is overcast, but no certainty on when or even if the rain is going to start) and “estar para llover” as “it’s about to rain” (dark clouds are gathering, the wind has picked up and a few scattered drops of rain have already fallen on my head).
In other words, por to convey a kind of vague sensation or general feeling, while para to convey more certainty. But that’s just my way of sorting this type of construction out in my brain.
@Jeffrey, as you can see, this is a juicy topic. I’ve got my own personal “cheat sheet” for por/para that I will email to you privately since I’m trying to figure out ways to address this topic on the blog without overloading people with too much stuff at one go.
Thanks, guys, for commenting!
Hi Eleena, interesting point, very well explained.
As you said, “estar por” usually means “to be about to ” and also “to be willing to do something or in favor of something”, as in:
“estoy por la abolición de la caza de ballenas”
A very common expression is “estar por la labor”, as in “estoy por la labor de hacerlo” meaning “I’m willing to do it”.
Regarding “está por llover” and “está para llover”, it is indeed very subjective, as you said. Personally, I always use “está para llover”, meaning something like “it can start raining anytime in the near future, but not necessarily right now”.
To me “está por llover” doesn’t make much sense, it would mean something like “the sky is considering whether to rain or not”…This is very personal, if you talked about this with 5 different native Speakers you would probably get 5 different answers.
Saludos, you are doing a great job, your written Spanish is astonishingly good.
P.S: if you think Spanish prepositions are bad, try being a Spaniards learning English prepositions, it’s a complete nightmare. At least, we don’t have those annoying phrasal verbs.
Yes, Roberto, I’m very glad that Spanish doesn’t have phrasal verbs because I’ve already got my hands full dealing with the Spanish subjunctive!!
Thank you for your detailed comments and the compliment. Feedback and corrections from native Spanish speakers are always welcome!