in spanish what's the difference between "él estuviera, él estaba" when using it in a sentence?
i know "él estuviera, él estaba" mean he was and he was, but their used differently i just forget how to know which one to use in certain cases/ situations..any and all good answers would be helpful
3 Answers
I'm not sure of the names in English so I will give you some examples because it's easy to see the difference:
Yo estaba en la cocina.
Él estaba en el jardín.
Si él estuviera aquí, comeríamos un pastel.
Si él estuviera aquí, iríamos a comer.
See?, in the second one yoo have to use a condition and in the other one you can make a "normal" sentence.
Él estuviera is the form of "estar" in the 3rd person singular Imperfect Subjunctive. The "ra" ending is a dependable signal that it is conjugated in this Mode and tense. (It happens there is an alternative to the "ra" type endings which is "se" so if you see one of these endings: ra, ras, ra, ramos, rais, and ran OR se, ses, se, semos, seis, and sen, you can be sure the conjugation is in the Imperfect Subjunctive. Because of the spelling of the stem, which resembles that of the preterit, it may be that it leads you to think of it as the preterit. It happens the spelling is similar because the stem for forming this subjunctive mode is developed by using the 3rd person plural of the Preterit and dropping the "ron" and then adding the appropriate ending from either of the two alternatives. Estuvieron is the third person present. Drop the "ron" and you have estuvie - add the "ra" and you have estuviera. The other acceptable form would be estuviese. Learning how to identify this tense is easier than learning when to use it.
ÉL estaba is the form of "estar" in the 3rd person singular Imperfect Indicative.
I wish she were more daring - Desearía que ella fuera más atrevida.
She was there, standing by the door. - Ella estaba allí, parada junto a la puerta.
