1 - Por/En la mañana? 2 - el olor de/a pan?

Question

Hi!! I`m a bit confused about those 2 things...

1 I learned that it should be "por la mañana" ... in the morning, not "en la mañana", that I heard several times already and I don`t know which one is correct, or two of them are fine?

2 in connection with today`s word of the day. Which of these are correct (why?)?: ...el olor de pan? del pan? a pan? al pan? Maybe there is some rule about this?

Thanks

Changed your formatting. Don't use dashes in the text, they are interpreted as formatting symbols. - 0074b507, Jul 23, 2011

Answer 1

Excellent question!

Por/en la mañana

According to our dictionary, both mean "in the morning". I am under the impression that it is a regional difference.

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Which of these are correct (why?)?: - el olor de pan? del pan? a pan? al pan? Maybe there is some rule about this?

Here, I am assuming you are trying to say "the smell of the bread" or "the bread's smell". If so, you would say "el olor del pan". Why?

El olor = the smell

de = of

el = the

pan = bread

El olor + de + el + pan = the smell of the bread

Now, remember, we cannot "de+el". They form one of the very few contractions in Spanish..."del".

El olor + del + pan = the smell of the bread

El olor del pan

Excellent breakdown.Even I now understand it. vote - heliotropeman, Jul 23, 2011

Gracias, heliotropema :) - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 23, 2011

Answer 2

SonrisaDelSol's explanation is correct.

Adding to it:
"Olor a flores" - describes something else that smells like flowers "Olor de las flores" u "Olor del pan" - is the actual scent of specific flowers or a specific loaf of bread.

Example:

Este perfume tiene 'olor a flores' - this perfume smells like flowers. El olor de estas flores no me gusta - I don't like the smell of these flowers.

¿Mejor?

Great explanation! - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 23, 2011

Gracias:) pienso que entiendo ahora :) - esteban87, Jul 25, 2011

Answer 3

Okay, so there are 4 grammatically correct options with regard to your question and both have different meanings:

1. Tiene el olor a pan = It smells like bread. (Here you would use "a pan" instead of "al pan" because you're not saying it smells like THE bread, but just bread in general, so you don't need the "the. Make sense?)
2. Tiene el olor al pan que mi madre hacía cuando yo era niña = It smells like THE bread my mom used to make when I was little. (Here you would use "al pan" instead of "a pan" because you're referring to the specific bread your mom made.)
3. El olor de pan es muy bonito = The smell of bread is very nice. (Here you would say "de pan" instead of "del pan" because you're talking about bread in general).
4. El olor del pan que haces es muy bonito = The smell of the bread that you're making is very nice. (Here you would use "del pan" instead of "de pan" because you're referring to specific bread, or THE bread).

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Gracias Sofia :) lo entiendo mejor ahora :) - esteban87, Jul 25, 2011

Answer 4

This is my question: in the dictionary I found: tener olor a -> to smell of , thats why I don`t understand. According to this it should de "olor al pan", no?

Answer 5

oloer a - smell like

oler de - smell of

tener olor a = to smell of (in our dictionary) - 0074b507, Jul 23, 2011