Era or fue

Question

when do i use fue and when do i use era when i say" she was" talking about someone who is deceased

Answer 1

Well I talked to a native speaker the other day about my great-great grandma who was from Spain, and who is obviously dead, I said 'fue de España' and he replied with '¿de cuál parte era?', using the imperfect tense instead. Here are a few rules:

PRETERITE

• To tell of something that happened once
• To tell of something that happened more than once but with a specific end
• To indicate the beginning or end of a process

IMPERFECT

• To tell of past habitual or repeated actions
• To describe a condition, mental state or state of being from the past
• To describe an action that occurred over an unspecified time
• To indicate time or age in the past

I suppose she was ALWAYS from Spain and wasn't from Spain once That could be why imperfect is used.

Imperfect seems to be used much more frequently to the point where if in doubt use imperfect. - jeezzle, Oct 21, 2009

You win this round, RSebastian..... :) - jeezzle, Oct 21, 2009

Yeah, I know what you mean - 0075c9ad, Oct 21, 2009

Haha cheers jeezzle :P - 0075c9ad, Oct 21, 2009

Answer 2

If she talked about her one time only, then I would use fue. If it was an ongoing thing, like she used to talk about her then I would use era. Past preterite is a dot in the past, something that happens one time. The past imperfect is a line in the past, something that was ongoing.