Preterite and imperfect again
I’m going back through the basics with my spanish and realizing there are certain topics that I never mastered completely. Today I wrote a letter to a new friend and had some serious trouble with preterite vs. imperfect. Here are a few of the sentences from the letter along with my comments; I’d appreciate any help.
Asistí a la universidad en Carolina del Norte también, y después viví en Nueva York (la ciudad) durante tres años. Trabajé en financia, en un banco. -This was (is) really confusing to me, because I attended the university in the past (fully completed in the past) which takes the preterite, but it was an ongoing thing in the past (I studied for, or during, four years) which takes the imperfect. Which one overrules the other? The same question apples to both “trabajé” and “viví”, both of which are completed but were ongoing in the past.
-No podía responder a muchos porque estaba viajando y no tenía acceso al internet. I used podía here only because I think I’ve remembered others using podia more often than pude…it seems like this could also be preterite because it’s a completed action. The other two verbs seem correct to me but I’m not real confident.
-Me gustó el trabajo pero tenía que trabajar muchas horas (70 cada semana), así que lo renuncié hace ocho meses. Same basic question here with “tenía” – I could argue either for the preterite or imperfect.
Also if anyone knows of a really good page or article on preterite vs. imperfect (not the usual really basic ones) please link to it.
Thanks.
2 Answers
Remember that the choice between the preterite and imperfect (excepts in certain context such as time and ages) depends on what connotation you are trying to express.
When you say I went to school here, I lived here, I worked there are you trying to express something habitual or describing something that was ongoing in the past when something else happened or just stating that in the past I did this and that and the other thing. If you want to paint a background...I was working in a bank before I moved to...Then use the imperfect. If you want to say I worked in a bank, I moved to..., I ... then use the preterite.
No podía responder a muchos porque estaba viajando y no tenía acceso al internet.
Since you used the imperfect we are to understand that you want to say that this occurred on more than one occasion (ongoing, repeatedly over a period of time in the past).
If you were discussing one incident where you failed to connect to the internet then use the preterite.
Me gustó el trabajo pero tenía que trabajar muchas horas (70 cada semana), así que lo renuncié hace ocho meses
tenía or tuve? tenía if you want to say they were always making me work over 70 hours a week) or tuve if you were made to work over 70 hours one week, it upset you, and you quit.
It's not always a case of this situation calls for imperfect (times of day in past) or this situation calls for the preterite. Choose the one that expresses what you want to say. It's not the fact that you went to school somewhere for 4 years. It whether you are discussing those 4 years a something that happened and is over with or whether you are using it to paint a background (I was attending school when.. or this happened while I was attending school or using that attendance habitually for that period in the past).
All of your contexts, school, where you lived, where you worked, some event that happened, all can use either the imperfect or the preterite depending on what you wish to say about the context.
I think you've got it mostly right. The only one I would change is
Me gustó el trabajo pero tenía que trabajar muchas horas...
I would have used Me gustaba because the liking was ongoing.
