Preterito Indefinido
Hi i am just starting to lern the Preterito Indefinido and I am not sure about a certain excercise. I have an example where I have to fill in a blank and I have been given a number of options but I am not sure which is correct the example is: Estuve en Mallorca (-------------) la semana pasada. The options are hace, desde, hasta, de ,a, después, & durante. My instinct tells me that it is durante but I am not sure if anyone could correct me and tell me what option is suitable and why that would be great. Thanks!
4 Answers
delete-2nd thoughts
Durante makes perfect sense if you are trying to say:
I was in Mallorca for the past week. (Am I still or not?)
However, would that be preterite or imperfect Estar? Durante seems equivalent to por or desde hace in this context and seems like an open-ended time duration as you could still be in Mallorca.
I would guess hasta since it conveys a closed (perfected) duration of time.
I was in Mallorca until the past week. (I am no longer in Mallorca-the time duration is perfected or an end time is given, if you prefer).
Very good question. I would like to hear from a native what connotations each of the choices give to the meaning of the sentence.
Where can I learn this?
Estuve en Mallorca (-------------) la semana pasada. The options are hace, desde, hasta, de ,a, después, durante, and (-), as Lazarus has added.
Really? Have you to choose between these options? Only one of them ? I'm a native and I wouldn't know how to do it.
For me, hace, de, a and después are clearly discarded.
With more doubts, I think that "desde" is discarded too:
Estuve en Mallorca desde la semana pasada, is not possible because "desde" implies that you still are in Mallorca, then you should say "estoy en Mallorca desde", not estuve.
These others make perfect sense to me:
Estuve en Mallorca hasta la semana pasada. I was in Mallorca until last week.
Estuve en Mallorca durante la semana pasada. I was in Mallorca the last week, (since Monday until Sunday)
Estuve en Mallorca - la semana pasada. I was in Mallorca the last week (someday or days of the last week)
"Estuve en Mallorca la semana pasada" is already a perfect sentence. Optionally, you can use "durante".
