Are ‘para ti’ and ‘por ti’ interchangeable?

Hiya,

Are ‘para ti’ and ‘por tl’ interchangeable please?

Thank you!

Peter

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@peterjduffy, on a grammar level, sentences will usually be correct whether you use para ti or por ti, but they express different ideas and are not interchangeable, even though the English translation may often seem identical.

  • Fazer [X] para ti generally means doing X for someone in the sense of offering them the result of your action, so to speak. For example, vou fazer sopa para ti means that you’re going to make soup for the other person to eat.
  • Fazer [X] por ti means doing X on behalf of someone or in someone’s honour. For example, vou fazer sopa por ti would mean that you’re offering to cook in someone’s place.
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This learning note also helps describe the differences between por and para so you know when to use each one: Por vs. Para

(I added Joseph’s example to it as well :slightly_smiling_face:)

Thank you so much for the link @Molly! That is hugely helpful. I’d seen that learning note some months ago but has forgotten it existed. My bad. Thanks again :smiley:

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