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When to use preposition en with encontrar

 

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  #1
Old July 18, 2017, 11:18 AM
masqcrew masqcrew is offline
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When to use preposition en with encontrar

Greetings!

What's the difference between "encontrar" and "en encontrar"? When is it appropriate to add the preposition?

Thanks
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  #2
Old July 18, 2017, 06:24 PM
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One of many many cases is when encontrar is in a predicate and you want to express duration or set the time:

Tardó mucho en encontrar el repuesto.
Fue el primero en encontrar la respuesta.

But that is not exclusive of encontrar but a bunch of verbs.

Tardó mucho en venir a retirar el pedido.
Tardó mucho en terminar de pintar la habitación.

But that en in en encontrar that baffles you so much is mostly asked by the verb in the subject:

Se ha empecinado en encontrar errores (empecinarse en)
Esmérate en encontrar una armonía original (esmerarse en)
Insistieron en encontrar una solución de compromiso (insistir en)
Confía en encontrar el remedio... (confiar en)
Trabajar en encontrar la fórmula... (trabajar en)

In other cases en just follows a noun or an adjective:

experto en encontrar personas perdidas (experto en)

Some other times en is the chosen preposition to confer some specific meaning:

No tenía problemas para encontrar testigos (Finding witnesses was easy for her)
No tenía problemas en encontrar testigos (She was willing to find witnesses)
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  #3
Old July 19, 2017, 01:19 PM
masqcrew masqcrew is offline
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Quote:
But that en in en encontrar that baffles you so much is mostly asked by the verb in the subject:
Doh! Should have seen that pattern. Thanks.
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