preterite or imperfect when a person is dead?

Question

When speaking of a person who has died performing an action in the past, would you use the imperfect of only the preterite?

Answer 1

Hello Lunipirate, welcome to the Forum!

It is not as straightforward as that. Preterite vs. imperfect does not necessarily have anything to do with whether a person is alive or dead. If you do a search for "preterite vs imperfect" using the search box under the "Ask a Question" button in the Q&A main page, you'll find lots of threads that explain about these two tenses in detail.

In short, whether you use one or the other has to do with how the flow of time is perceived within a sentence set in the past.

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Examples:

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. - Abraham Lincoln fue el decimosexto presidente de los Estados Unidos. (preterite - done and over with).

Abraham Lincoln was president when he was assasinated. Abraham Lincoln era presidente cuando fue asesinado. (continuous action - he still was president, he had not finished his term, when he was shot).

Did you read Lazarus' reply the other day on ...fue un capitán que...vs era un capitán que.....?? Very similar analysis. - 0074b507, Feb 8, 2012

I didn't unfortunately. I'm delighted that one of my anwers can be even remotely likened to one of Lazarus' lectures! :-) - Gekkosan, Feb 9, 2012

Answer 2

I think if you are just talking about someone's death, it would be the preterit.

El hombre murió en 1950. - The man died in 1950.

Again, that's not definite. For example: The man had already died in 1950. El hombre ya había muerto en 1950 - Imperfect. - Gekkosan, Feb 8, 2012

Good point! I tried thinking of an imperfect example, but couldn't. - Tosh, Feb 8, 2012

Answer 3

If they died doing something, that action would be in the imperfect; anything with an "ing" is always imperfect. In order to figure out if something is preterit or imperfect, ask the question "what happened?" If it makes sense with what you are trying to conjugate (he died) then it's preterit. If not (the sky was blue) than its imperfect.