Por las buenas - on good terms?

Question

Quiero entrar por las buenas. I want to go in on good terms right?

Does it mean on good terms? Can it be used in any sentence where "on good terms" would work?

Gracias

Answer 1

No. In Spanish there are two ways to do things: Por las buenas o por las malas.

Por las buenas can mean "amicably", "the proper way"; "peacefully"; "pleasantly"; "with your cooperation":..

Por las malas would be the complete opposite: "violently", "the wrong way"; "unpleasantly"; "by force"...

As Heidi says, context is always needed for the right translation.

Answer 2

Well, as we have decided to guess , jeje, lets do it.

Entró por las buenas al teatro....he entered without paying.

My only guess of course....not into guessing today

Ah, excellent! I did not consider the sarcastic use of this. Which, in this case, actually means "por las malas" :-D - Gekkosan, Jan 24, 2012

Answer 3

Quiero entrar por las buenas.

Context?

Jeezle, it is necessary to know if you just saw this somewhere, add where, or if you made that up and need to know if it works.

We can guess, but as you can imagine, that is very time consuming

Perhaps it's related to a prior question of Jeezle, about the end of a relationship?, "it's not working" , but wanting to continue on good terms with the person. Jeezle? - Sheily, Jan 24, 2012