¿De compras, de compres?

Question

I'm confused about which one is correct. It makes sense that shopping is de compras because the verb is comprar. However, I often see it written as de compres. Most examples I see are not being used in the subjuntive.

Please explain why I see both.

Answer 1

It makes sense that shopping is de compras because the verb is comprar.

Not really: "compras" is a noun in plural, literally meaning purchases.

"Compres", on the other hand, is a conjugated form of "comprar" (in subjunctive). I can't see how a finite form like this can follow directly a preposition, so I'd say that "de compres" is simply wrong.

Answer 2

Google Images for de compres link text

The name of the file for many of those pictures actually says "compras", and many of the other ones are pages written by English speakers.

The title has both compras and compres link text

One in Catalan, the other in Spanish. People from Barcelona are bilingual.

The panel on the right "rutas de compres" link text

It says "rutes de compres"... in Catalan, not in Spanish.

Yellow pages listing (Spain) link text

Spain has a few languages apart from Spain. That site is in Valencian, a language similar to Catalan.

Answer 3

Hmmm...

Certainly, "de compras" is correct.

Can you give an example of where, what sentence, you've see it written "de compres?"

Edit:

Only "de compras" is recognized by Google...getting 96 million hits.

Answer 4

Given Lazaru's answer, some possible explanations for seeing de compres would be:

You have seen a lot of things written by people for whom Spanish is not their first language.

You have seen a lot of typos.

Somewhere out in the Spanish speaking world is a place where compres and compras can both mean "purchases"???

Edit: I think it's Catalan.

Those have been my guesses. I'm curious to find out which is true - elainepnj, Aug 1, 2011

Google lists 1,610,000 for this exact phrase "de compres"...that makes me curious. Typos and non-natives probably don't explain that. - webdunce, Aug 1, 2011

It may be Catalan, which is really similar to Spanish. - webdunce, Aug 1, 2011

Answer 5

Thank you all for your responses. I'm very happy that the answer is that it is Catalan and not that there such widespread misuse of a word.

Answer 6

Google Images for de compres link text

The title has both compras and compres link text

The panel on the right "rutas de compres" link text

Yellow pages listing (Spain) link text

eeek, will correct links when I get back from an appointment - elainepnj, Aug 1, 2011

ok, corrected - elainepnj, Aug 1, 2011

The third link must be put in Català (Catalan) to see rutes de compres. If you put it in Castellano (Spanish), it is rutas de compras. - webdunce, Aug 1, 2011

The fourth link is from Valencia, which, apparently, is a place in Spain where Catalan would be the primary language (according to the Wikipedia article on Catalan). - webdunce, Aug 1, 2011

Regarding the second link, the blog author is from Barcelona (a place where Catalan is widely spoken as well, I believe). Her article is in Spanish, but she may speak both languages or may have a lot of followers that speak Catalan. - webdunce, Aug 1, 2011

Answer 7

Only "de compras" is recognized by Google...getting 96 million hits.

Google is strange. Sometimes when you enter "de compres" It returns with 69 mil. hits, but the tops says "Did you mean: de compras?"

Other times if you enter "de compres" it returns with 96 mil. hits for de compras, but says: "These are the results for de compras, if you wish to search for de compres, click here"

So google seems to acknowledge the the e is incorrect, but there are loads of hits if you persist

Put "de compres" in quotes (as I've done here) into Google. Ignore it's suggestions. Putting anything in quotes forces Google to return documents with that exact phrase. - webdunce, Aug 1, 2011