Hola,
As I was going through lesson 1.5, I notices something. The conversation has these lines"
Carmona: ¿Estás de vacaciones?
Mujer: No. Estoy aquí por negocios.
They translate to:
Carmona: Are you on vacation?
Woman: No. I’m here on business.
Why is de used in the first sentence but por used in the second? Are they interchangable in this case?
Gracias,
Rob
una pregunta - 1.5 conversation

rkotenko
March 8, 2009

Mauricio
March 11, 2009
Hi Rob,
Sorry I think the translation here has probably thrown you off, it should read more like...
Carmona: ¿Estás de vacaciones? - Are you on holidays?
Mujer: No. Estoy aquí por negocios." - No. I'm here *for* business
"De" and "por" are not interchangeable.
I hope that helps.
Mauricio.

rkotenko
March 11, 2009
¡Gracias Mauricio!
That makes sense. :)
I really like this program. I am only five lessons in and I feel like I have already picked up a lot of useful phrases and words. So much better than learning "the apple is red" and "the boy is running."

Antonio
March 11, 2009
[quo]*Quote:*
So much better than learning "the apple is red" and "the boy is running."[/quo]
Maybe you don't like this, but you will need it.
The boy is running.
The boy was running
The boy will be running.
The boy would run, if...
The boy could run....
The boy should run
The boy has been running.....
there are 600 verbs to practice like this........
Have fun

rkotenko
March 12, 2009
Allow me to clarify. :)
When I was in high school, I definitely did not learn to say:
I would like a coffee
I need a coffee
I want a coffee
or whatever until way past the fifth day! We started off with lots of vocab but very few sentences that were immediately useful. This led to me just cramming for test and not really LEARNING spanish.
I totally agree that all those verb conjugations are important. But I am glad that this program gives me useful spanish right away. :)