about 1st and 3rd verb in imperfect
how to observe the difference between 1st verb and 3rd verb in the imperfect verb, for example this sentence: Estaba manejando a mi casa. When I read that sentence how do I know if it means, I was driving to my house, or He was driving to my house.
2 Answers
You have to know the context. That sentence by itself could mean I/he/she/it/you (formal) were driving to my house. You need more information to translate.
This is one of only a few "duplicate" forms in the conjugation of Spanish. As KevinB says, you must rely on context to discern which of the "grammatical" persons it refers to as the subject. When there is no context (no text or observable facts where these words are spoken) there is no way to determine absolutely the subject which "goes" with the 1st and 3rd person singular of form of verbs in this tense.
I have found it helpful to spot these duplications by making a complete table of only the conjugation endings for AR, ER, and IR verbs. You can do this on one sheet of 8.5 X 11 copy paper using two columns. Having them in one place where you can see them quickly can save you a lot of time which you would otherwise need to "look up" the particular verb. Of course, this only works for "regular" verbs, so it isn't 100% reliable, but it does help.
