Fui vs estaba
I don't really understand the whole habitual part of the imperfect tense.
If I was to say that I went somewhere every summer, like to visit my grandmother, would I say cada verano fui al visitar mi abuela or would I use estaba?
Preterite implies it was a finished action but habitual actions in the imperfect are confusing me.
6 Answers
Yeah, it's confusing...at first. In time you'll get it.
Ayer fuí a visitar a mi abuela. (Yesterday I went to visit my grandmother)
Todos los veranos iba a visitar a mi abuela. (Every summer I went to visit my grandmother)
Cuando era niño visitaba a mi abuela en Florida. (When I was a boy I used to visit my grandmother in Florida)
Tip: Remember that time and age are always in the imperfect tense.
Eran dos en punto cuando llegó (It was 2 on the dot when he arrived)
Tenía 12 años cuando mi abuelo se murió. (I was 12 when my grandfather died).
Preterite implies it was a finished action but habitual actions in the imperfect are confusing me.
No wonder, because nearly all tenses can be used for habitual actions. See previous threads about this.
Cada verano iba a visitar a mi abuela. (Each summer I went to visit my grandmother)
Todos los veranos iba a visitar a mi abuela.
Todos los veranos fui a visitar a mi abuela.
Both are correct, and both are habitual.
I am / was (soy-estoy / era-fui)
What????
Cada verano fui a visitar a mi abuela (in a definite period of time: from 1990 to 1995, for instance).
Cada verano iba a visitar a mi abuela ( in an indefinite period of time: in my childhood).
you are confusing the verbs...
Everybody has to take this in account:
Todos tienen que tener esto en cuenta:
To be = ser or estar
I am / was (soy-estoy / era-fui/estuve - estaba)
You are / were (eres- estás / eras - fuiste)
He, she, it is / was ( es - está / era - fue)
We are / were ( somos - estamos / éramos - fuimos)
You are / were ( son - están / eran - fueron )
They are / were ( son - están / eran - fueron )
Spaniards will conjugate the plural of you different.
EDIT: oops half **** work...
Ayer fuí a visitar a mi abuela. (Yesterday I went to visit my grandmother)
Cada verano iba a visitar a mi abuela. (Each summer I went to visit my grandmother)
Cuando era niño visitaba a mi abuela en Florida. (When I was a boy I used to visit my grandmother in Florida)>
These are great examples to illustrate the point. I think you could even translate #2 as, "Each summer I used to go visit my grandmother," with the imperfect iba implying a habit in the past.
Todos los veranos iba a visitar a mi abuela.
Todos los veranos fui a visitar a mi abuela.
Both are correct, and both are habitual.
But I think Fui a visitar mi abuela would NOT be habitual without the time marker todos los veranos - alone it sounds like a single completed action in the past ¿que no?
