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I am learning Spanish and want to post a picture of my new running shoes that I will be using in the Madrid marathon. Which is correct?

nuevos zapatos por España

or

nuevos zapatos para España

From what I understand, one means "I have new shoes for me to use in Spain" and the other indicates something like "I have new shoes for the country of Spain to use".

Which one implies "I have new shoes for me to use in Spain"?

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4 Answers 4

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The first sentence:

nuevos zapatos por España

Doesn't really make sense. I mean someone that speaks Spanish would not understand what you mean. In that sentence when i read it, that "por" feels like "for" in the sentence "for the cause".

Although in some places people would understand "tenis" as Alfredo said. It is not really that used in many countries. I would say "zapatillas", I think most people would understand that, at least in the countries I have been. As I said I think it depends a lot of what country you come from.

So in the picture you want to post, i would say something like:

"Mis nuevas zapatillas para la maratón en España".

You could say too

"Mis zapatatillas nuevas para correr el maratón en España"

The answer by Alfredo, is correct too. I think is a more formal way of saying what you want to say.

Your original sentence

nuevos zapatos para España

It is good too, but just replace zapatos with "tenis" or "zapatillas".

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    "zapatillas" at least in Mexico is only used for "ballet shoes".
    – Alfredo Osorio
    Apr 14, 2013 at 15:58
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    Yes that is the problem I think, in different places they call it different. Here they would look at you funny if you said tenis :P
    – Dzyann
    Apr 14, 2013 at 21:28
  • @Dzyann In Uruguay, they use "championes" :)
    – Dr. belisarius
    Apr 15, 2013 at 13:18
  • in cuba we say tenis for that kind of shoes, and zapatillas for ballet shoes, but I think zapatos is understandable in everywhere
    – Emilio Gort
    Jul 25, 2014 at 19:37
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If you post a picture:

Mis zapatos nuevos para España.

will be OK and universal.

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"Por" means a cause or origin in your sentence and "Para" means an use or objective for something, since your shoes are for running = para correr, then use: Mis nuevos zapatos para España

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1

I'd say:

Estos son los nuevos tenis que voy a usar para el maratón en España.

For running shoes you use "tenis":

tenis

  1. m. pl. Calzado de tipo deportivo.
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    I would use "deportivas" instead of "tenis" or "zapatos". In fact I've never heard "tenis" in that context...
    – Salvatorelab
    Apr 15, 2013 at 8:41
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    I've always heard "tenis" :-)
    – qPCR4vir
    Apr 15, 2013 at 20:39

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