Common errors in Spanish - "buscar para" meaning "to look for"
People learning languages have special problems when, for example, the new word or phrase consists of two words in their native language, and one or three in the new one. And it seems that all English speakers learning Spanish have a tough time with this one: "look for" (two words in English) and "buscar" (one word in Spanish). The "rule": you don't say "buscar para" or "buscar por" in Spanish. Examples of correct usage:
Spanish
1. Busqué a Juan en el puerto pero no lo vi allí.
2. Estamos buscando una casa nueva.
3. Busca la respuesta en tu libro.
4. Busqué trabajo todo el año pasado pero no encontré nada.
5. Vamos a buscar un sitio nuevo para las vacaciones.
English
1. I looked for Juan in the port but didn't see him there.
2. We're looking for a new house.
3. Look for the answer in your book.
4. I looked for work all last year but didn't find anything.
5. We're going to look for a new place to go on vacation.
You probably noticed there's an "a" after the verb in the first example. That's the "personal a" and has nothing to do with the verb buscar as such.
Brad
