Por vs sobre

R Z.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

For the question "No hay muchas casas ________ el monte." meaning, there aren't many houses on the mountain, why wouldn't sobre work? If I wanted to say "there aren't many books on the table", wouldn't sobre be acceptable in that instance?

This question relates to:Spanish lesson "Using por (not para) to express approximate location"

Asked 4 years ago

Like1Answer1

InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hola R,

you could also say "en el monte" or "sobre el monte", but those will literally mean "on/on top of the mountain". The preposition "por" indicates an approximate location, as if "scattered on the mountain". I have added a hint indicating that we mean an "aproximate location" to be more clear. I hope this helps.

Saludos

Inma

Like44 years ago

R Z. asked:

por vs sobre

For the question "No hay muchas casas ________ el monte." meaning, there aren't many houses on the mountain, why wouldn't sobre work? If I wanted to say "there aren't many books on the table", wouldn't sobre be acceptable in that instance?

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