Would "probar" be synonymous with "demostrar" in this sentence?

Question

Los últimos estudios científicos que se han hecho acerca del cacoa demuestran que fue descubierto en México por la antigua civilización olmeca.

If one were to replace "demuestran" with "prueban" would that change the meaning at all?

Answer 1

I'm going to assume that the English meaning you are going for is "prove".

I'm not a native user but it seems they can both mean "to prove." My gut sense is that using either one says the same thing.

I hope my answer here will inspire one of our native speakers to provide and answer. I will watch to see what develops.

Espero también amigo. - ray76, Mar 2, 2015

Yes, I'm thinking that both "probar" or "demostrar" would mean "show" or "prove" or "demonstrate" but I'd be curious whether a native speaker would agree - malbecblend, Mar 2, 2015

Answer 2

Yes, you can use both "probar" and "demostrar" in this sentence, like "to prove".

But, remember "probar" in Spanish has also another meanings: to try, to taste and to prove are the main ones.

Hope this help!

¡Muchas gracias! Ahora sabemos. - Jubilado, Mar 3, 2015

Answer 3

this is my personal opinion: probar is more solid than demostrar in the sense that "probar" is used for non disputable issues and again this is my personal opinion

Answer 4

Yet another synonym that I think would work is "comprobar." So we could also replace "demuestran" not only with "prueban" but also with "comprueban." Yes?

It would depend on context. From RAE: tr. Verificar, confirmar la veracidad o exactitud de algo. - 005faa61, Mar 3, 2015

Los últimos estudios científicos que se han hecho acerca del cacoa demuestran (COMPRUEBAN?)que fue descubierto en México por la antigua civilización olmeca. - malbecblend, Mar 3, 2015

If there is absolute proof, then yes, but to use "comprobar" in place of "demostar" changes the nuance a little - 005faa61, Mar 3, 2015

thank you JulianChivi - malbecblend, Mar 3, 2015