ayer por la mañana

Question

Why do you use por la here:

ayer por la mañana

what is the significance of por la here?

why can't we say something like this:

ayer a la mañana

Answer 1

In another thread I found an interesting observation from a post from Quentin:

...learn Spanish examples that contrast the use of por or para. Don't try learning the English reasons for using them.

Although that other thread has as its discussion topic "por and para" - not quite the same as what you are asking directly --, the observation is relevant and tells you that people express thoughts in different ways in different languages and that there may not always be a reason relevant to English.

Next you might go to the grammar section about "por" to see why por is used in your Spanish sentence and come to better understanding.

Here is another link. para and por

Answer 2

ayer (yesterday) por la (this is telling you at what time yesterday) manana. ayer para la manana doesn't make sense and and ayer a la manana doesn't make sense since ayer is already gone.

Exactly...in Spanish it doesn't make sense. But in English we say "yesterday morning" and that is causing our questioner a problem. - Janice, Aug 22, 2009