In the ancient practice of falconry, a falconer (un cetrero) trains (adiestra) birds of prey, such as falcons (halcones).
| The falconer trains the falcon so that it flies. | El cetrero adiestra al halcón para que vuele. |
Considering something finished with dar por
To express that you consider or presume something to be in a certain state—often that a process is finished or a status is achieved—use the phrase dar por followed by a past participle or an adjective.
Just like other adjectives, the word following dar por must match the gender and number of the noun it describes. Notice how concluido changes to match the masculine proceso and the feminine cacería (hunt).
| Maybe the falconer considers the process concluded today. | A lo mejor el cetrero da por concluido el proceso hoy. |
| We consider the hunt concluded so that the falcon rests. | Damos por concluida la cacería para que el halcón descanse. |
Agreement with pronouns and tricky nouns
This agreement rule also applies when you replace the noun with a direct object pronoun.
For example, águila (eagle) is a feminine noun, despite using el in the singular to avoid clashing with the stressed a. If we consider the eagle lost, both the pronoun la and the participle perdida are feminine.
| The eagle still isn't returning, so we consider it lost. | El águila sigue sin regresar, así que la damos por perdida. |
Evaluating outcomes
You can use dar por to evaluate various results, like deciding if a hunt has failed (fallido) because a bird injured its claw (la garra).
| The eagle damaged its claw, so we consider the hunt failed. | El águila se dañó la garra, así que damos por fallida la cacería. |
You can also use it to declare an animal tamed (domado). Notice that when the direct object is a specific animal, you still need to use the personal a (here contracted to al).
| The falconer considers the falcon tamed without the hood. | El cetrero da por domado al halcón sin la caperuza. |