Estuvo o Estaba?

Question

"He was here a moment ago" is "él estuvo aquí hace un momento." or "é estaba aquí hace un momento." I'm thinking it's the perterite (estuvo) but, in the translation, 1 is preterite and the other 2 are imperfect. Gracias.

Answer 1

I'm fairly certain this would not be the imperfect.

What do you mean "in the translation?" Which translation, the ones you provided or the translation from another area of a site?

• Sorry, the translator on this site. - Incógnito Sep 11, 2009

Answer 2

Estuvo is the correct form here.

Answer 3

I'd use estuvo, since we want to focus on him having left, and we don't have any real reason to say anything else on the matter.

By the way, here's an article that contrasts the imperfect and the prererite quite elegantly: http://www.mepsyd.es/exterior/be/es/publicaciones/mosaico/mosaico15/mos15b.pdf

• Thanks for that link, Viking, it's a great article! - --Mariana-- Sep 11, 2009

Answer 4

One of the only times you'd use estaba here is if you were following up with another action.

"Él estaba aquí cuando llegaste"