oímos - present or preterit?

Question

1. Oímos cantar a Alicia. If this translates to "we heard Alicia singing," I believe this construction is correct.

2. Oímos cantar a Alicia. Yet, If we mean to say "we hear Alicia singing," I believe this identical construction is also correct.

Am I am mistaken? If not, absent much more context, how would it be made clear if the tense is the present or the preterit? The reason I ask is that I see it given as an example of the preterit in a text book, but without any mention that it could also be said exactly the same in the present.

Answer 1

"Oímos" can be present or past depending on the context.

Ayer,oímos ruidos en el tejado. (past)

¿Qué oyen? oímos música clásica. (present)

Yes, If I am present (among the ohers) and I don't hear Alicia singing, I will asume the context is past. But, if it appears only in writing, without more context??? - Otravez, Feb 7, 2011

You should note that this is true for all verbs in the 3rd personal, plural. (not just oír) - 0074b507, Feb 7, 2011

You and I are aware of the possible ambiguity of 3rd person constructions. But I did note this was a textbook example which had no context and did not note the other possibility. - Otravez, Feb 7, 2011

gfreed: not true for all the verbs! comemos-comimos, vamos-fuimos, vemos-vimos, damos-dimos, etc. - Agora, Feb 7, 2011

Answer 2

You are talking to a group of people that includes yourself. Which tense it is should be clear to everybody.

Hah! Never thought about that! :-) I must say, though, that after wrestling with SE for awhile, this issue is a walk in the park. - webdunce, Feb 7, 2011

Probably written Spanish could cause some problems, though. Like, if you just see, "Oímos cantar a Alicia," all by itself, there's no way to tell without context. He may not be part of the group that wrote it, see? - webdunce, Feb 7, 2011

Answer 3

Well, you already have the answer.