Muchas cosas que comprar vs muchas cosas para comprar

Question

Pimsleur says "Habia muchas cosas que comprar" but my friend has told me "habia muchas cosas para comprar" I don't get the "que" in the first one. Are they both correct? Gracias.

Answer 1

Please, let me give you my interpretation:

Available to buy (disponible para comprar) versus What I need to buy (que necesito comprar)

Now my explanation in Spanish, because you are already an expert Jeezle...

Creo que una cosa es la disponibilidad de productos que una tienda pueda tener y otra cosa es lo un posible comprador necesite comprar.

Si el comprador entra a una tienda y ve muchos productos, él podría decir: Hay muchas cosas para comprar. Simplemente está haciendo una observación de la gran cantidad de cosas que hay.

Ahora si él se quiere referir a lo que necesita comprar y supongamos que necesita muchas cosas, él podría decir: Hay muchas cosas que comprar or Hay muchas cosas por comprar.

I am honored by your presence in my thread, Carlos, will you check to see if my "habia que" thing is right (below), I suppose that if "tener" or "haber" are attached...only then can que be used like para...as part of the "hay que" or "tener que" thing? - jeezzle, ABR 1, 2010

Answer 2

I guess Id use both... the 'que' makes sense because... I have to = tengo que Tengo muchas cosas que/para hacer - i have many things to do

Answer 3

Carlos, no me abandones.

Answer 4

Ok it just occured to me that "había que" is related to "hay que" so "hay muchas cosas que comprar" = "hay que comprar muchas cosas" so "habia muchas cosas que comprar" = "habia que comprar muchas cosas" now what does habia que mean and how does it related to hay que.. Hay que = One must.....Habia que = ??. Gracias.

Edit: What if "hay que" was one must and "habia que" was "one had to". That would mean that "la vida que habia que vivir" would be "the life that one had to live" and "la comida que habia que comer un este restaurante fue terrible" = The food that one had to eat in that restaurant was terrible.

Answer 5

para comprar

lesson 3.6 also discusses the use of "para"

L.

I have done all the lessons and understand the use of para, it is the use of que which is strange to me... thanks. - jeezzle, ABR 1, 2010

Answer 6

is correct