Were you at school this morning?

Question

Were you at school this morning?

Were you at school in the morning?

I have to say that when I am talking is in the afternoon.

In Spain, we can say the two expressions to say the same.

I mean, ¿estuviste en el colegio esta mañana? and ¿estuviste en el colegio por la mañana?. And they can be used with the same meaning. Is it in the same way in English?. Thank you.

Answer 1

Nila, yo creo que en ambos casos es cuestión de contexto.

"Were you at school this morning?" y "¿estuviste en el colegio esta mañana?" sólo pueden indicar "en la mañana de hoy" - ningún otro día.

Por otra parte, "Were you at school in the morning?" y "¿estuviste en el colegio por la mañana?" podría ser hoy, o podría ser otro día. "¿Y la semana pasada - estuviste en la escuela en la mañana?" - "Last week, were you at school in the morning?"

Answer 2

In a real-life situation (as opposed to an exercise in translation), the context would normally make saying which day, unnecessary. "Estuve en el colegio por la mañana y por la tarde fui a la playa." / "I was at school in the morning and in the afternoon I went to the beach." These are quite reasonable sentences. If said in response to "¿Cómo lo pasaste ayer?" / "What did you do yesterday?", they clearly refer to the morning and afternoon of yesterday. Whereas, if the question were, "¿Cómo lo pasaste hoy?" / "What did you do today?" (or "How was your day?", then they clearly refer to this morning and this afternoon.

You see? This is the way how I thought it should be. Good answer, Samdie. - nila45, Apr 14, 2010

Answer 3

Hi Nila,

Were you at school this morning is best, as you said.

The second sentence is not exactly incorrect, however if you asked me (the same afternoon) Were you at school in the morning? I would guess that you were talking about the same day, but I would need to check by asking This morning? to be certain.

I'm sorry I'm not sure how to explain why, just telling you what I would understand from each question.

Yes, it is understood. - nila45, Apr 14, 2010

Answer 4

Sentence #2 wouldn't work because you have not specifed which morning you are talking about.

example:

Were you at school this morning? ("this" specifies which morning)

Last week, were you at school in the morning? (last week specifies which morning)

but,

were you at school in the morning? (not correct, doesn't specify which morning)

Not incorrect. Mildly ambiguous but in contexxt would probably not be confusing. - samdie, Apr 14, 2010

Well, yes, if you are already talking about last week, the time would be specified :-), and it would most likely be understood. But, prepositional phrases beginning with "in" & relating to time are defined as non-specific. - AKgal, Apr 14, 2010

the two example sentences are not interchangeable :-). Have a great day! - AKgal, Apr 14, 2010

Answer 5

Well, I was trying to guess if both of them are posssible in the same situation.

When anybody is learning English, he is obliged to use "this" on this context. I mean, it is in the afternoon and he is talking about that morning. But, you know, we the Spanish native speakers could use both of them. I mean, "¿estuviste esta mañana en el colegio?" o "¿estuviste por la mañana en el colegio?". It is clear that not to make misunderstanding the first option is the best. But that doesn't mean that we couldn't use the second option. From my point of view, both of them are possible. Unless someone can explain the opposite.