What is correct: Yo Estaba Buscando or Estuve buscando para usted
It is quite confusing trying to understand some of the grammar as Buscando means "Looking", so how is Yo Estaba Buscando, "I was looking for you?".
Why would you not or could you use "Estuve buscando para usted", instead.
I am still getting confused with some of the grammar due to Rosetta Stone not giving explanations of how the words work together grammatically.
Also what version of the word for "You" would you use?
2 Answers
You don't need "para" here. Buscar is "look for" it's not "look"
You would say buscandolo for a male usted and buscandola for a female usted. Coloquially they'd say "buscandole" for a male.
My book says: Estaba + gerund is more common for saying you were doing something at a particular time (it wasn't a habit) and you are not saying that you finished it. For example Estaba esperandolo cuando lo vi. I was waiting for you when I saw you. (I didn't stop waiting for you until later). Estaba + gerund is used in a kind of story telling way, When you hear "estaba haciendo algo" "I was doing something" you are expecting to hear some kind of interpretation to that action or that something happens while the person was doing that thing, like "I was doing something when you called."
Estuve + gerund is the same as the past simple but it ads the idea of the duration of the action. E.g. El verano pasado estuve ayudando a Robeto. Last summer I was helping Robert. Yes, I finished helping Robert at the end of the summer, so I could say "I helped Robert" instead, but I want to emphasis the duration for some reason.
My teacher said the meaning between Estaba + gerund and Estuve + gerund was almost the same but we also tended to use estuve when particularly giving new information.. What you were doing on the beach!? I was sunbathing. - Estuve tomando el sol. < This might be wrong, I have been known to misinterpret the teacher.
Careful:
Estuve buscando para usted = I was looking for for you
"Buscar" means "to look for", and "buscar para" means "to look for for", so the last part of the sentence ("para usted") means that whatever you are looking for, you are doing it for that person (i.e. because of that person), but the sentence does not even say what you are looking for; in any case, not that person, for sure.
English has lots of verbs with prepositions and adverbs, like "look for", "stand up", "give up"... Spanish does not have a single verb like that, so don't try to create them; all those verbs must be translated as a single verb, if such verb exists, or by paraphrasing them the Spanish way.
You use imperfect (estaba buscándole) if you want to recreated from your memory a point in the past when you thought "I am looking for him", and you use preterite if you want to present an present overview of a past event seen in its totality. Both are correct, but you use them for different expressive purposes.
