Help with imperfect tense

Question

I am making every effort to speak spanish fluently in two years, and i need some help. I need some examples of verbs in the imperfect tense and why they are used that way. Thank you!

Answer 1

Cuando era niña nadaba en el mar. (When I was a girl I used to swim in the sea).

I used "nadaba" because I used to do this repeatedly, not just one time.

Cuando tenía cinco años compré chicle. (When I was five years old I bought some gum.)

I used "tenia" because you always use the imperfect tense when talking about time or age.

Gracias!! - lucas322, May 15, 2010

Answer 2

SELWICH said

so is this correct then - Estaba una idiota cuando tenia cinco anos

Well if you are talking about yourself I would use "un idiota" as you are male.

Answer 3

The article that this WordReference forum post links to really helps me out!

There are a lot of examples in the thread on the forums, and in the article itself.

Answer 4

Luciente pointed you to a forum entry on the subject. Ïn at forum entry, there is a reference to a paper you might want to have a look at. Preterite/Imperfect Half-Truths: Problems with Spanish Textbook Rules for Usage

Well worth reading (probably rereading from time to time). The "rules" that are usually given are often wrong and always inadequate. The notion that there are certain "magic" words" in English that "trigger" the imperfect/preterit in Spanish is nonsense. It's all about viewpoint and there is no reason to expect everyone (regardless of language) to have the same viewpoint. Different languages reflect/condition different ways of viewing the world. One cannot translate word-for-word, it must be idea-for-idea (and even that can be a problem).

Answer 5

And changing your sentence a little...

Cuando tenía cinco años masticaba chicle todo el día. (When I was five years old I chewed gum all day?)

Can you give us one with 'fue' instead of 'era?' I don't get that difference at all.

Cuando estudiaba español no entendía cuando usar 'fue' vs 'era.'

When I was studying Spanish I didn't understand when to use those guys. Both being on-going.

I could be way off, but I feel like "fue" is either used when you are talking about a specific event and "era" is used to describe something in general. - Luciente, May 15, 2010

"fue" would refer to a single event that happened in the past that has a specific time start and ending. with "era" you cannot exactly specify the start or end - mcdavis99, May 15, 2010

keywords in aentence can help you determine what tense to use. "fue un bobo en la fiesta la semana pasada" is a specific time; "era un bobo cuando era un muchacho" is not a specific event - mcdavis99, May 15, 2010

Answer 6

Jmarie, you wrote:

When I was studying Spanish I didn't understand when to use those guys. Both being on-going.

What do you mean that both are [used to speak about something as having been] ongoing?

"Era" is the "imperfecto" tense; and "fue", the "pretérito". So we must look for rules about what those tenses express and how they are used. I, too, feel less sure when using "ser" than with some other verbs.

That said, I think that if you are describing something in the past - nothing with an exact start and stop time, you would always use era. On the other hand, I believe that you might say "fue" if you limit the time with some other word such as "anoche" or "last week", etc..

I will check a Spanish grammar book when I get some time, but I expect that someone will have already been able to give us a definitive answer before then.

Luciente pointed you to a forum entry on the subject. Ïn at forum entry, there is a reference to a paper you might want to have a look at. Preterite/Imperfect Half-Truths: Problems with Spanish Textbook Rules for Usage

Answer 7

so is this correct then - Estaba una idiota cuando tenia cinco anos

Unless you are referring to just some short temporary time, I think "era" would be more appropriate here rather than "estaba'. - Luciente, May 15, 2010