Gerund or Imperfect?
How would you translate "we were trying" into Spanish? Would you use a gerund (estabamos tratando) or simply imperfect (tratabamos)? And would you use tratar or intentar?
3 Answers
Estabamos tratando is a continuous tense. It would be used if you were trying at that exact moment in time in the past. The imperfect would be used if you wish to say that you were habitually or ongoing trying something in the past. I don't think that they are interchangeable as Beatrice implies.
For example, if I had been trying to build a boat last summer, but was not doing so at that moment in the past which is being referred to, the imperfect would be used; not the continuous tense.
It depends on the context. What you are calling the gerund is not the same as the English gerund. What you really want to know is whether you should use the imperfect, imperfect progressive, or preterit progressive. Here is an article that talks about this.
As I said, it depends on the complete sentence. I would normally use one of the progressive tenses, all things being equal, but Spanish uses them less than English.
Tratar and intentar can be synonyms, but not always. Again, context is important.
Depends on what you were trying. If you were trying to do something, tratar or intentar would work. If you were trying food, for example, you would use probar. As far as choosing to use gerund or imperfect, I have heard more native speakers use imperfect, but I have never been corrected for using gerund.
