spanish "de" used as "to" or "for"
Hello, I have only one example, cuz i can't find more. "El "verbo" ver se refiere a la capacidad que tenemos de percibir cosas."
It looks like "de" can be also translated as "for" or "to", which is something i wasn't aware of. Is there any specific rule when i can use it instead of "para" or "a"?
Or can i use "de" interchangeably with "para" and "a"?
Can i use "a" and "para" in my example?
Thanks for responses.
7 Answers
Daniel,
The correct use of the preposition "de" is the subject of ample documentation, and should be part of any Spanish course. There are lots of grammar enthusiasts in here who most likely will be willing to provide further explanations.
I can refer you to this article, that discusses some of the issues with "de", and should also be good reading practice. 
Uso y abuso de la preposición "de" en algunos enunciados
Meanwhile, I'll only say: no, you cannot use "a" in your sample sentence.
It is possible to use "para", in which case I'd feel more comfortable saying "para percibir las cosas".
But really, the way it's written is most natural.
"Percibir" acts as an adjective of "capacidad", so de must be used in your example.
To use para would indicate that "percibir" benefits from "capacidad", so this is not correct , although people sometimes make this mistake.
There are guidelines for the use of various prepositions, but I don´t know if there is a specific rule.
"Percibir" acts as an adjective of "capacidad", so de must be used in your example.
To use para would indicate that "percibir" benefits from "capacidad", so this is not correct , although people sometimes make this mistake.
There are guidelines for the use of various prepositions, but I don´t know if there is a specific rule.
I will try to explain, as simply as I can what Julian is talking about.
You know how in English one can use one noun as an adjective to modify another noun?
Here's an example:
Chicago Police
Here Chicago, a proper noun, is acting as an adjective to modify Police. What kind of Police are they? They are Chicago Police, not state police or Dallas Police, etc.
You can't do this in Spanish. In Spanish you have to use the preposition "de" as a connector.
Policía de Chicago
Police of (or from) Chicago works OK here, but we would rarely say it that way.
Often you can translate "de" as "of" or "from" and it makes sense. Other times, this doesn't work so well and you can see that "de" is just a connector between two nouns in Spanish and no one should try to translate the three word phrase word for word.
Well, a Spanish infinitive can also be a noun, just as in English a gerund (-ing verb) can be a noun.
So connecting a Spanish noun with a Spanish infinitive with "de" is exactly the same as connecting two nouns.
Capacidad de percibir.
Capacity to perceive.
Capacity of perceiving
or somewhat less literally: Capacity of Perception or
Perception Capacity (2 nouns with one acting as an adjective)
Perceptual Capacity (using an actual adjective instead of a noun as an adjective)
By the way: the phrase: que tenemos - that we have, is also acting as an adjective of capacidad. What capacity? Big? Little? No, that which we have....ours.
Two Spanish words, whether they a two nouns or a noun and an infintive must be connected by "de" if one word is acting as an adjective of the other.
I highly recommend learning entire Spanish sentences and phrases and only trying to understand their basic meaning in English, not try to pick them apart word for word. I believe trying to do word for word analysis of Spanish sentences and their English translations is a very slow and cumbersome way to learn Spanish.
There are no general rules regarding when you can use para, de, a, que, etc.
Each preposition and many times each verb must be studied separately. And some verbs will use one preposition for one meaning, a different one for another meaning and and no preposition at all for a third meaning. To try to study all of this, rather than starting to read, write and speak the language is, by far, one of the worst ways to learn Spanish.
Instead I recommend following a structured course such as we offer here under Learn Spanish in the main menu. Just push on with an entire course, rather than trying to reconcile every single word of a Spanish sentence with its English translation. When you're done with a course, retake any parts you haven't mastered and then move on to another course. Or just start to read and listen to things in Spanish.
Also, you can start to write Spanish and submit it for correction here on SD. Or play one of our games (word of the day, or picture of the day) which are corrected by native speakers. You will learn so much faster that way.
As a native speaker I wouldn't be surprised if you used "para" instead of " de". "A" would sound weird.
The use of a preposition here depends on the word "capacidad"
Juan tiene la capacidad de prever hechos futuros.
Julio posee la capacidad de liderar grupos.
"Para" seems also good but not "a".
Of course I don't know any grammar rule so maybe someone could confirm.
In addition to my longer post which shows how two nouns or a noun and a Spanish infintive are joined by "de" to create an adjective-noun relationship, I wanted to give a shorter answer.
The capacity to perceive
The capacity of perceiving
The capacity of perception
Perception capacity
In every case, the bolded words are acting as an adjective or adjective clause modifying capacity.
La capacidad para percibir
The capacity in order to perceive makes no sense.
Here's a Spanish sentence with the proper use of para.
La mente humana ha evolucionado para percibir patrones y sentido en casi todo.
The human mind has evolved in order to perceive patterns and meaning in almost everything.
In order to use para, one can normally use the phrase "in order to" in English. Para / "in oder to" explains the purpose of the preceding phrase.
Why did the human mind evolve? In order to perceive patterns.....
For what purpose did the human mind evolve? In order to perceive patters...
Now let's look at the original sentence and see if we can do the same.
El "verbo" ver se refiere a la capacidad que tenemos de percibir cosas."
If we substitute "para" for "de" we would come up with this:
El "verbo" ver se refiere a la capacidad que tenemos para percibir cosas."
The verb "to see" refers to the capacity that we have in order to see.
This might not sound too bad, but it isn't proper English (or Spanish).
For what purpose does the verb ver refer to the capacity that we have?
This question makes absolutely no sense...it sounds like gibberish, so it doesn't make sense to use "para" instead of "de" in this sentence.
On the other hand:
Dios nos dio ojos para que podamos percibir las cosas.
God gave us eyes so we can perceive things.
Why did God give us eyes? So we can perceive things.
For what purpose did God give us eyes? So we can perceive things.
So, although some natives say that "para" would sound OK, I agree with Julian in that it would be a grammatical error to use it, although it is a common one and people would still know what is meant.
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