Per or Per A

Both per and per a often become English for, but they point in different semantic directions. Per looks back or through: cause, motive, means, route, exchange, distribution, duration, or agent. Per a points toward an endpoint: destination, intended recipient, intended use, purpose, or deadline. Before an infinitive, regional standard systems differ, so a good decision includes both meaning and variety.

Do not simply replace Spanish por with per and para with per a. The broad contrast resembles Spanish, but Catalan contractions, infinitival usage, and regional norms form their own system.

The decision tree

1. Does the phrase give a cause, motive, agent, route, means, price, exchange, rate, or measured span? Use per.
2. Does it name an intended destination, recipient, user, use, or deadline? Use per a in a system that maintains the full distinction.
3. Does an infinitive express purpose? In the IEC's analytic formal model, use per + infinitive after an agent's deliberate action (ha telefonat per confirmar-ho) and per a + infinitive when the context is non-agentive or denotes destination or intended use (serveix per a confirmar-ho). Varieties that reduce the contrast use per throughout; Valencian, Tortosí, and Franja varieties that maintain it may use per a more broadly for purpose.
4. Does a verb or adjective govern a fixed preposition? Respect that government: optar per, preocupar-se per, interessar-se per. Do not change it to per a merely because a beneficiary appears nearby.
5. Would a finite purpose clause be clearer? Use perquè + subjunctive, never per a que.

Cause versus intended beneficiary

The smallest contrast is often a person.

In a full-distinction system, per l'Adrià gives motive or representation, while per a l'Adrià identifies who is meant to receive the result. Many Central speakers use per l'Adrià in both meanings (informal/regional), so context may carry the distinction; careful cross-regional writing can preserve per a for the beneficiary.

The contractions make the contrast visible:

Pel is per + el and marks the agent. Per al is per a + el and marks the intended recipient. They are not optional spellings of the same sequence.

Route versus destination

Use per for the place crossed or route followed. Use per a to label the destination of a service or item in the full distinction; ordinary physical motion often uses a or cap a instead.

Do not say camino per a Ripoll simply because English says “I am walking for/toward Ripoll.” Say camino cap a Ripoll for direction. Per a Ripoll classifies luggage, mail, tickets, or a service by intended endpoint.

Means, price, and exchange versus intended use

Means and channel take per: per telèfon, per tren, per correu. Price and exchange also take per. An intended use or user takes per a in the full distinction.

The first per answers “in exchange for how much?” and “by what means?” The second points to the object the cover is designed to protect.

Another minimal pair contrasts agent and intended use:

English for/by partly exposes this contrast, but English for covers price, duration, recipient, and purpose, so direct translation soon fails.

Rates and duration versus deadline

Rates use per: dues vegades per setmana, vuitanta quilòmetres per hora. A limited assigned span can also take per, although durant is often the clearest way to express elapsed duration.

The first measures the span of the rental; the second points forward to an endpoint. For deadlines, contemporary standard usage also admits per dimarts, common in Central Catalan. Valencian normally preserves per a dimarts. In a formal document, choose the accepted model for your audience and keep it consistent.

Compare a rate and a deadline:

Purpose infinitives: meaning and regional systems

Before a noun, intended use is clear in the full distinction: una sala per a reunions. Before an infinitive, both syntax and regional system matter. The IEC's analytic model favors per when a deliberate action and its purpose share an agent, but per a in non-agentive contexts, for intended use, and normally when the understood agent of the infinitive differs. Alongside that model, accepted territorial usage ranges from generalized per in eastern varieties to a broader per/per a distinction in Valencian, Tortosí, and the Franja.

These sentences express the same agentive purpose. The second is not “more correct” everywhere, and the first is not careless abbreviation. Central, Balearic, Northern, Alguerese, and much Northwestern Catalan normally use per here. Valencian, Tortosí, and Franja speech and writing maintain per a robustly; for speakers who distinguish the two prepositions, that form is also accepted in formal registers. IEC and AVL standards accommodate coherent territorial models.

Cause remains per in every model:

Here the infinitive names the grounds for the penalty, not its intended result. A full-distinction writer should not change it to per a haver ocultat.

With a finite subject, purpose takes perquè + subjunctive:

Per a que recordis is nonstandard. For more detail on mood, see purpose clauses.

Fixed government overrides the endpoint picture

The directional explanation predicts many choices, but lexical government must be learned. Optar per una solució, interessar-se per la història local, and preocupar-se per algú contain per because the governing expression selects it.

The first phrase is the complement required by decantar-se per; the second names intended users. Replacing the first with per a would break the verb's complement pattern.

Ambiguous English prompts

“I saved this seat for Joana” normally means intended beneficiary: He guardat aquest seient per a la Joana in the full distinction. “I spoke for Joana” means representation and takes Vaig parlar per la Joana. “We stayed for two days” expresses duration: Ens hi vam quedar durant dos dies or per dos dies in an assigned-span reading. “I need it for Friday” is a deadline: Ho necessito per divendres in common Central usage, per a divendres in Valencian/full-distinction usage.

The phrase “a train for Lleida” means destination and can be un tren per a Lleida. “We traveled through Lleida” is vam passar per Lleida. Holding the noun Lleida constant makes the relation visible.

A dialogue where the choice matters

In a variety that maintains the distinction, per mi asks about motive or representation; per a mi asks about intended recipient. The answer then uses per encàrrec de to state the reason for Marta's action.

Quick workflow for editing

Underline the complement and ask a full question: why/by what route/by whom/how often/how long? points to per; for whom/for what use/toward which endpoint/by what deadline? points to per a. Then check whether the governing verb requires per. With a purpose infinitive, ask whether it depends on an agent's deliberate action or instead expresses intended use, a non-agentive endpoint, or a purpose with a different understood agent. Finally, apply one accepted territorial or editorial model consistently.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Per expresses cause, means, route, price, exchange, agent, rate, or duration.
• Per a expresses destination, recipient, intended use, purpose, or deadline in the full distinction.
• Keep pel/pels distinct from per al/per als.
• Before purpose infinitives, both coherent Central/eastern per and Valencian/full-distinction per a models are standard.
• Lexical government can decide the form: optar per remains per.
• Use perquè + subjunctive for a finite purpose clause, never per a que.