Imperfect/preterit confusion
Hola!
If I am talking about a specific day in the past, I would use the preterit, correct?
It was a Friday - Fue un viernes
But then again, I remember learning that the imperfect is used for time in the past, so I'm second guessing myself...
Also, for age, that's the imperfect, correct?
I was seven - Tenía siete años
Thanks for your help.
2 Answers
If I am talking about a specific day in the past, I would use the preterit, correct?
Not necessarily. If you are picturing the Friday as a whole finished event, from an outside perspective, then you say "fue"; if you are projecting a mental image of a moment when you thought "Oh, today is Friday", disregarding the end of the day, then use "era".
Also, for age, that's the imperfect, correct?
People rarely describe being this or that old as a complete time period after which your age is no longer that, even if there is nothing illogical about it. Ages are normally quoted at a particular time, but you don't focus on its time boundaries (out of which that is not your age), so in present you say "I am X years old", and in preterite you recall that same fact, again without considering the whole finished period at which you are that old.
If the imperfect is used her, would the progressive form (estar + gerundio) also be in the imperfect?
Yes, you can.
Oops, one more thing.
It was a Friday, and she was walking with me to school.
If the imperfect is used her, would the progressive form (estar + gerundio) also be in the imperfect?
