Pa'

[eulandria]

I've seen "pa" used in front of a lot of words. What does this mean???

[Elaina]

Hola Eulandria:

Pa'........what I have seen in the past is that it is a short version of "para". For example, "voy para la tienda" would come out as "voy pa' la tienda" OR este auto lo compré para Eulandria ... would be ... este auto lo compré pa' Eulandria.

Sustitute para for pa and see if it makes more sense to you.

Does this help?

Ela

[eulandria]

Thank you very much! It does make more sense. I am a beginner, and little things like that through me off.

[Tomisimo]

The question has already been answered, but I'll just add a side note. It seems to me that when shortening para to pa', it usually happens before words that start with a consonante, and infrequently before words that begin with a vowel. It might just be my imagination though. ¿Any native speakers care to comment?

[sosia]

for me, pa' as para is like "ya" or "u" as "you", it's a "street" contraction so you can't expect any grammatical rule.

Your oppinion ("infrequently before words that begin with a vowel.") I think it's simply more difficult to find words that begin with a vowel.
"voy pa' Asunción" it's perfectly (in a vulgar way, not standard spanish) valid

[Tomisimo]

Thanks for commenting on that Sosia, I always appreciate what you have to say.