How regional or widespread are the colloquial "pa`" or "pa'" in place of "para"?

Question

In Mexico I sometimes heard or saw the colloquial variant pa' or pa used for para.

But is this just a Mexicanism, or is it also used in Central America, all Latin America, or even in Spain?

La cucaracha, ya no puede caminar, porque no tiene, porque le falta, marijuana pa' fumar. — Peter Olson, Nov 22 '11 at 22:14

score 10 · Accepted Answer · edited May 03 '19 at 10:10

10

You'll hear it quite a lot in the Andalusian region of Spain. This Wikipedia article gives a very brief coverage of it:

Relaxed pronunciation / Spanish

edited May 03 '19 at 10:10

answered Nov 22 '11 at 22:19

Sinjo

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It's super common in the north of Spain too. After all, in Asturian the word for para is just pa, and that affects speech in Castilian. – user0721090601 Dec 01 '14 at 23:19

score 6 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 07 '12 at 00:39

6

Es una abreviatura muy extendida por gran parte de latino américa y España. Se usa sobre todo en el lenguaje coloquial y es similar al caso de las terminaciones -ado -ido ... en los verbos que suele eliminarse la letra "d"

¿Has "terminao" los deberes? No, mamá son pa' pasado mañana.

En ningún caso se utiliza en el lenguaje escrito

edited Jan 07 '12 at 00:39

Gonzalo Medina

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answered Nov 23 '11 at 08:48

Aracem

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score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 22 '11 at 22:15

3

Here in Argentina it's used, but it's more of an informal jargon, rather than regional.

answered Nov 22 '11 at 22:15

Petruza

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score 3 · Answer 4 · edited Nov 23 '11 at 12:39

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As others have pointed, pa / pa' is a common colloquial variant for para. You will hear in Latin America and Spain. Maybe it's more extended in some places than others, for example Andalusia in Spain, but I'm sure you will find someone that uses it at least from once in a while everywhere. It is not a regionalism.

And as Aracem has said, its not for written language (with its exceptions, of course: dialogs, transcriptions...).

edited Nov 23 '11 at 12:39

hippietrail

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answered Nov 23 '11 at 12:36

Ignacio Contreras Pinilla

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Yes when you say it's colloquial that already means it's not for written language (-: – hippietrail Nov 23 '11 at 12:39
Well, interesting point. It seems today you're teacher. :) – Ignacio Contreras Pinilla Nov 23 '11 at 12:59

How regional or widespread are the colloquial "pa`" or "pa'" in place of "para"?

4 Answers4