Help with past tense and "Así que" vs "Por eso", please

Question

¡Hola!

Estoy practicando para mi examen final para el primer semestre. Escribo pequeños ensayos para practicar. Ahora tengo una pregunta que hacer: ¿Cómo se dice "So, I called the dogs, and we went for a walk in the mountains."

My attempt is: "Así, llamé a los perros, y nosotros fuimos a las montañas."

The past tense is new for me this week, and this is one of my first uses of the "personal a."

También, por favor ayude a entenderme la diferencia:

1. Así...
2. Así que...
3. Por eso...

All suggestions and explanations are much appreciated. Mi examen es el martes, y me diviertir con el español.

¡Gracias!

It depends on what, if anything, precedes the statement. If "so" is just a meaningless filler word, you can use entonces, bueno or pues. If you actually mean "therefore", then entonces, por eso, así que are good options. - webdunce, Dec 7, 2011

Entonces will work in several cases, so I'd probably say: "Entonces llamé a los perros, y nos fuimos a dar un paseo en las montañas." - webdunce, Dec 7, 2011

But, since this is for a final exam, please await Spanish natives and others as my Spanish is not perfect. Also, you may wish to give us a bit more context to help. - webdunce, Dec 7, 2011

Thank you, webdunce. I don't have much context. I'm just practicing writing sentences in the past tense because we will have to do that on the exam. I don't know what the actual questions will be, so I'm just practicing lots of things! - bouldermain, Dec 7, 2011

Hi Bouldermain. Welcome to the forum! - sanlee, Dec 7, 2011

Gracias, sanlee, y gracias también para las correcciónes de mi flashcards. - bouldermain, Dec 7, 2011

Answer 1

"Así, llamé a los perros, y nosotros fuimos a las montañas."

You should drop the "nosotros". It's not needed.

To walk the dog you use pasear. Pasear el perro.

"Así que, llamé a los perros, y paseamos en las montañas."

You could also start off as Webdunce said.

"Así" by itself doesn't work here, and "por eso" is completely different.

"Por eso pretty much means "that's why".

Many thanks. This makes sense, and I see now that paseamos is the right verb (rather than fuimos). Gracias! - bouldermain, Dec 7, 2011

Answer 2

"Así que" is "so", either for reason or just what is coming up next. "Por eso" literally means "for that," in other words, "for that reason." You can use it when English uses "so" but only if you are referencing a reason from the previous line. The "reason" is much strong in "por eso" than in "así que".

"Así" by itself at the start of the sentence means "like this/that" or "this/that way". (For example: Así ocurrió = It happened this/that way"

Good answer, Luciente! - territurtle, Dec 8, 2011