ELONIO
Log inSign up

Te presté la tarjeta para pagar la deuda.

Te presté la tarjeta para pagar la deuda.
I lent you the card to pay the debt.
From Lesson 101:Preterite spelling changes (-gué, -qué, -cé)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Te presté la tarjeta para pagar la deuda.

Since this lesson is about changing -gar verbs to -gué, why didn't we change pagar to pagué?
Because of the word para. In Spanish, when you say "in order to" do something, you use para followed by the unconjugated infinitive form of the verb. So it stays as pagar. You would only use pagué if you were saying "I paid" as the main action, like in the sentence Yo pagué la deuda.
Does the verb prestar (to lend) need a spelling change in the preterite yo form?
No, prestar is a completely regular -ar verb, so it simply becomes presté. The spelling changes you are learning in this lesson only happen with verbs that end in -car, -gar, and -zar (like pagar changing to pagué) to keep their original pronunciation.
Why is Te placed at the very beginning of the sentence?
Te is an indirect object pronoun meaning "to you" (I lent the card to you). Whenever you have a conjugated verb like presté, the pronoun must go immediately before it. You can only attach these pronouns to the end of infinitives or gerunds, so if you wanted to say "to pay you", you could attach it to the second verb to make pagarte.
Why do we use para instead of por in this sentence?
Para is used here because it expresses a purpose or a goal. Whenever you want to say "in order to" reach a goal (in this case, paying off the debt), you always use para followed by an infinitive verb.

Learn Te presté la tarjeta para pagar la deuda and more in Spanish

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Spanish →