Imperfect tense vs present?

Question

I was writing an assignment in spanish and my teacher marked it, but she didn't tell me what was wrong.

This was the sentence: "Los fines de semana mi familia y yo íbamos al parque para ver a mi hermano jugaba fútbol."

She underlined underlined "jugaba" and drew a line from it to "ver". Do I use the present tense, "juega" instead of imperfect?

Los fines de semana mi familia y yo vamos al parque par ver a mi hermano jugando futbol. - enmilto, Nov 7, 2010

You need to be consistent - if you use imperfect in the first part of the sentence you need to use it in the second part. I think you just need to add a "que" after hermano and before jugaba - enmilto, Nov 7, 2010

To answer your question, you can use the present tense in both places. On weekends my family and I go to the park to watch my brother play football. Los fines de semana just means On weekends - enmilto, Nov 7, 2010

Answer 1

Think of you own language. Which one would you prefer?

1) I watched him plays

2) I watched him play

The first one is conjugated (i.e. he plays), while the second one use an infinitive (to play). Well... in Spanish it is exactly the same!

Spanish IT is exactly the same! ya sé que estás faltas te fastian mucho por eso la señalo - 00494d19, Nov 7, 2010

uses - 00494d19, Nov 7, 2010

Si te molesta que ande por aquí, me lo dices y me voy del foro, ¿eh? - lazarus1907, Nov 7, 2010

Answer 2

In this case, I believe you would use the infinitive jugar instead of jugaba.

Edit: Okay, now I think I may be wrong. Sorry!

Second Edit: Apparently I didn't give myself enough credit!

I think you are right. - kenwilliams, Nov 7, 2010

Okay, thanks! I had a moment of second-guessing myself! - mapletw, Nov 7, 2010

Answer 3

You did not include what you were trying to say in English, but sometimes a simple solution is to put what you are trying to say into the translator and see what it suggests.

Assuming that you were trying to say, "On the weekends my family and I went to the park to watch my brother play football".

The translator's attempt:

Los fines de semana mi familia y yo fuimos al parque a ver a mi hermano jugar al fútbol.

Ignoring the preterite/imperfect and a/para discrepancy, notice that it also confirms some of the suggestions here that the infinitive of jugar should be used. The translator is far from perfect, but it can be helpful at times.

Answer 4

I can tell you what is wrong, but not why!

Maybe someone else can throw in the "why"...

"jugaba" should be "jugando".

Welcome to the forum.

Don't agree, they don't use the progressive like that in spanish it normally follows estar like estuve jugando, I was playing. e - kenwilliams, Nov 7, 2010

You are probably right...my experience comes from speaking and not school...I have not been corrected on this usage by natives, but that does not mean its not wrong.... - renaerules, Nov 7, 2010

Can both be right??? "Jugar" or "jugando" depending on what you want to convey? - renaerules, Nov 7, 2010

Answer 5

Yes you need the infinative there rather than the imperfect should be jugar.