iba or fui, I can never tell
La semana pasada ______ al pueblo de mi abuela
I know it is fui but I put iba first time round. I can never tell which to use. Fui is when the event is definitely over right? So that is why it would go here, because the person already went and it was a single event which has finished. (?)
8 Answers
Hi, Dewclaw, as a general rule, the preterite answers the question "what happened"?
Your sentence, "I went to grandma's house last week" tells what happened, so you need "fui".
On the other hand, the imperfect generally tells you what was happening, what used to happen, what always happened...
The imperfect also gives background information, or tells you the way things were. Thus, in the sentences "my mother was a teacher", "my grandparents had gray hair", "their dogs were ferocious", "it was Tuesday", "it was two o'clock" you will use the imperfect, since that tells you the way things were. There is nothing that actually happened in those sentences.
Remember, that these are general guidelines, but they will get you started.
I hope this has helped.
Imperfect? Past continuos? Que es eso? mejor diga: como se dice I went? or como se dice I was going? My humble opinion ...but you can try and ask anybody in Mexico and see their blank faces, unless you are talking with somebody from the epidemia de la lengua espanola (o como se llama esa flamante institucion?)
Fui - I went
Iba - I was going
In the above context.
Therefore, if your sentence is stand-alone then you need fui, if you are going to continue and say that something happened when you were on the way to your grandma's villiage, then use iba.
La semana pasada fui al pueblo de mi abuela. (past and finished)
La semana pasada iba /estaba yendo al pueblo de mi abuela, cuando me sorprendió una tormenta. ( past action interrupted by another past action )
The best answer I found is: Fui... I went Iba I was going as in: I was going to church when it started raining cats and dogs
If you knew how most people write in Mexico you would not be afraid to write: Yo ir a Iglesia cuando llover como en Houston
Question:
How do we know when to use the imperfect and when to use the past continuous?
The event is definitely over for both iba and fui. They are both past tense. However, generally, in the case of iba, the event is not completed with regards to some past context. Iba will usually get translated as "was going" and fui as "went."
I was going to the store when I fell. = Iba a la tienda cuando caí. The act of going to the store was not over in relation to the falling event. I was still on my way to the store when I fell. However, with relation to now, both events are over.
However, there's some subtlety I don't yet get to imperfect and preterite, because sometimes Spanish people consider them equal, too. Like apparently, in some cases, their brain "tosses a coin" before choosing which one to use.
Or if you habitually went to your grandmother´s town in the past.
Iba al pueblo de mi abuela cuando hacía buen clima.
