Comments on: Parking

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mharbus y pussycat. Sorry I misunderstood, sometimes depending on the context you can use "buscar" as "to find". In Spanish when you say that is hard to look for something, it means that in the end it will be hard to find what you were looking for. Hope I am not confusing you more. In this context you can say it " It is hard to look for a spot or also it is hard to find...maybe in English it doesn't make sense. In Spanish it does.

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mharbus and pussycat, There are Spanish questions and English questions... and then there are translation questions. We are in the cloudy world of translation land here. Out of context, buscar means to look for, and encontrar means to find, and never the twain shall meet. Semantically, however, 'encontrar' is a possible outcome of of 'buscar,' so there are some situations where the two word are describing the same action. It is perfectly acceptable to say "Es difícil buscar estacionamiento" in Spanish. However, in English, I have a very strong preference to translate it as "It's tough to find parking." When you roll your mouse over "buscar" in the expansion, you'll get the gloss, which is "to look for." However, the translation is more than the sum of the gloss. This is such an interesting question, I'm thinking of bringing it to Pa' que sepas... Stay tuned!

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muchas gracias jp y lili por tus explicaciones. Otra vez parece que mi confusión proviene del uso de una traducción literal/americana....pero, con verdad, estoy todavía un poco confuso. ¿Se puede decir 'Es difícil buscar el propósito de existencia' (It's difficult/tough to find the purpose of life)..? un saludo

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Liliana and JP Thank you both for your explanations. I am much clearer about it now. It seems to me that an easy way to remember this is to think that whilst you are actually looking for something you are in the process of finding it! Does that make sense to you?

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¿Alguna vez has caminado dando vueltas en buscar de su coche aparcado en el estacionamiento? Eso ha pasó conmigo. por este razón a veces podía ser mejor que se estacione en la calle.

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correccíon para arriba: Esto ha pasó á mí.

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Great lesson! The more discussion about the subjunctive the better. Dave

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hey so how do I know when to use "para que" vs. "asi que"

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nathanwagar,

Use "para que" for "so that (consequently something can happen)." Or you can think of it as "in order that." It explains the goal.

Think of "asi que" as "and thus" "and thusly..." "and therefore."

Te lo digo para que sepas. I'm telling you so that you'll know. The goal of my telling it to you is so that you know. I'm telling you in order for you to know.

Te lo digo, asi que lo sepas. I tell it to you, and therefore you know. That's why you know, because I tell it to you.

The difference is important, and it doesn't really bear out in the English. I can tell you that "asi que" to me feels less specific, more of an all purpose conjunction, where as "para que" expresses a strong relationship between the two clauses it connects.

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Gracias JP,

so . . .

Like the crew leader showing up at a job site, and bringing out a tool he made for the job. He tells his team

#1 Hago esto para que utilice.

I made this to use.

and in the second sense, the main supervisor shows up to check on plans for the day, the guy brings out the same tool but says instead.

#2 Hago esto, asi que utilice.
         o
    Hago esto, asi que utilizara.
    I made this so I/we (might/could) use it.

Is that close?

and then on a lark I tried to change persons and tenses on your statement.

Me lo dijo para que sepa.
does that work, or do I need

Usted lo dijo a mi para que sepa.

Me lo dijo, asi que lo sepa.