"I thought you liked roses."

Question

I am stuck on expressing this. This is in the context of someone receiving roses as a present and saying they don't like roses, and the other person responding "I thought you liked roses."

First, is the "thought" in preterite or imperfect? I'm caught between using imperfect because it was a past state, and using preterite because the action is definitely completed now that the person realized they were wrong.

Then, I'm stuck on the "you liked". Should it be subjunctive because that person now knows that they were wrong? Or should it in indicative.. and if so, is it imperfect because it's liking it in general, or preterite because it could be viewed as a reaction?

I would guessing it would be imperfect in both cases, but am I way off?

Pensaba que te gustaban rosas.

Answer 1

It sounds like this has been a long-time belief, so Pensaba que te gustaban las rosas would be correct.

Answer 2

Agree with Julian except that I'd use "creer" as more appropriate.

"Creia que te gustaban las rosas"

Answer 3

Also"Creí que te gustaban las rosas".

Answer 4

I think that the answer is subjective. It depends on what you were thinking when you said it. Were you stating "I thought that when I bought them..." or "I always thought that..."? That's one of the advantages of Spanish, that you can choose which past tense or mood to use to express nuances that can't be done (in that manner) in English.