"I thought you worked at the restaurant."

Question

I was wondering what a good translation for this phrase would be. When I put it in the machine translation, it came out to: "Pensé que trabajó en el restaurante."

Does this sound right? I don't really understand why the translator uses "trabajó." I might be phrasing the question strange too. I guess it could be "I thought you work at the restaurant."

Basically I'm just trying to make the statement that I thought I saw this person working at a restaurant, but was trying to make it simpler.

Trabajó is the usted( you formal) preterite form of trabajar - BellaMargarita, Mar 4, 2011

Answer 1

"Pensaba que trabajabas en el restaurante."

The verbs here both need to be in Pretérito imperfecto

why are both verbs in pretérito imperfecto? wouldn't they be in pretérito? I thought it would be Piensé que trabajiste en el restaurante. can you explain this to me? - bailey009, Mar 4, 2011

If you specify a certain period of time when your thinking started and stopped, you could use pretérito, but it would sound a bit strange, ie: Por un minuto pensé...... With trabajar, the same, ie: ... trabajaste ayer en el restaurante - 005faa61, Mar 4, 2011

But the wording in your phrase indicates an indefinite time period for both verbs; hence, imperfecto - 005faa61, Mar 4, 2011

Oh Thank you! - bailey009, Mar 4, 2011

Thanks for comfirm what I thought. - BellaMargarita, Mar 4, 2011

Answer 2

"Pensé que trabajó en el restaurante."

Wow, the translator has it right on this one. That's rare. Anyway, you might want to substitute trabajó with trabajaste to make it less formal, say if you're talking to a friend or acquaintance. It can also be trabajabas (imperfect) if the person used to work there for a certain period, & whether or not he has left is uncertain. If you think he currently works at the restaurant, then just change the verb to the indicative (trabajas).

Answer 3

May I ask the following.

What if the sentences were:

I used to think that you used to work at the restaurant. But I don't know now.

I used to think that you worked at the restaurant.

I thought that you used to work at the restaurant.

I think that you used to work at the restarant.

original

I thought you worked at the restaurant,

How would these be translated. ???

Can we use soler (solía) for used to? - 0074b507, Mar 5, 2011

Answer 4

I think it would depend on the context. For instance are you asking if you should that he/she worked somewhere in the past(and you know they no longer do) or if you are meaning to say you thought they currently worked at the restaurant(which is what I interpreted it as).

"Pensé que trabajas en el restaurante." = I thought that you work at the restaurant

"Pensé que trabajó en el restaurante." = I thought that you worked(in the past) at the restaurant.

These would be my interpretations, I think they both would be understood though.