Para is one of those prepositions that causes lots of confusion for Portuguese learners. So, to simplify it, I’ve decided to only look at 3 uses for para in Portuguese in this lesson.
In this ultimate guide to por and para in Portuguese, I went through all the uses of both prepositions. More importantly, I said to think of para as an arrow ➜. This is because all uses of para can be thought of as something you can point to.
Purpose
Consider these sentences:
- This pen is for writing. – Esta caneta é para escrever.
- I use this pen to write. – Eu uso esta caneta para escrever.
- I use this pen in order to write. – Eu uso esta caneta para escrever.
Now, picture an arrow pointing directly at the purpose of a pen or the outcome of its actions. What’s the true purpose of the pen? It’s for writing.
In Portuguese, we consistently append the full verb or a personal infinitive after “para” when discussing purpose or goals (to/in order to). When translating this to English, it often aligns more seamlessly with the “ing” version. However, as we observed in the examples:
- For writing. = Para escrever.
- To write/in order to write. = Para escrever.
Destinations
Next, we have para used for expressing destinations. This one is easy to imagine an arrow. We can imagine an arrow pointing to the destination.
I’m going to Tavira = Vou para Tavira.
Directions
Lastly, we have para for directions. This one is also easy to imagine an arrow for. It’s also similar to the previous one. We can point in the direction of someone or something. We can also point in what direction someone or something is going.
We are going up. = Vamos para cima.
We are going down. = Vamos para baixo.
We are going left. = Vamos para a esquerda.
She is pointing at the window. = Ela está a apontar para a janela.