Imperfect or infinitive in the past

Question

I'm a spanish student preparing a 5 minute oral presentation about my life. I'm finding myself confused about how to express myself in the past tense. For example I have this paragraph:

Mi lugar favorito fue Byron Bay, en Nueva Gales del Sur, donde pasé una semana hacer surf, beber en bares y generalmente tener aventuras con la gente que había conocido en mis viajes.

Should hacer, beber, and tener be in the imperfect or are they correct as they are in the infinitive. Am I correct in thinking haciendo, bebiendo etc are always wrong when talking about the past? Another section:

La parte de Liverpool que yo vivía fue tranquilo y suburbano, y de niño me pasaba mucho tiempo jugaba al fútbol con mis amigos, trepaba a los árboles y jugaba a videojuegos.

Is this more correct than the first section? Anything else you can pick out as incorrect grammar would be welcome criticism too :o)

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Well, the best advise I can give you is to write in English what you are trying to say in Spanish. I mean, you did a great job but it would be easier to be able to see the English version.

• Thanks! I actually wrote it in English first and then tried to translate. What I really want to know, though, is if I should be saying 'beber' or 'bebia', 'jugar' or 'jugaba' and so on. In my english version it's 'I spent time drinking' etc - Hamfist Oct 24, 2011

Answer 2

I think your text is grammatically correct,

..., donde pasé una semana hacer surf, ...

since you place it in the past with pasé, and the infinitives are really noun clauses.

"... where I spent a week surfing ... etc"

You wouldn't say, "where I spent a week surfed ..." in English, so ... pasé is the only past tense you need there.

Answer 3

Mi lugar favorito en Nueva Gales del Sur fué Byron Bay, allí pasé una semana, haciendo surf, bebiendo y practicamente pasando un buen tiempo con la gente que conocí en el viaje.

En la parte de Liverpool que viví era un suburbio tranquilo. De niño pasaba mucho el tiempo jugando fútbol con mis maigos, trepaba árboles y jugaba videojuegos.

We do not use the expression suburb in Spanish. We normally say "a small or medium size town, city or a town next to or near to" I am not saying is incorrect, but it is just not common to use that expression.

Good luck!

• "saying that it is incorrect" or "saying it is incorrect" - lorenzo9 Oct 24, 2011