Estuve o estaba?

Question

If a sentence were said in the progressive, in the past, at a specific time would it be estuve or estaba? The sentence is,

Cuando el ejército peruano entró a la embajada, la bandera de los rebeldes del Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru ...... ondeando.

I thought it would be estuve because its in a specific time, when they entered. However i was told it was estaba. Can anyone explain why?

Answer 1

The imperfect is used with descriptions. The army entered is preterite because it is a quick, completed action, but the flag was waving is a description of what was happening when the army entered, so it's in imperfect.

That makes sense. I guess its more of a setting than an action. - jttorbey72, Apr 12, 2012

Yes, estaba because it was an ongoing action, interrupted. - missy8888, Apr 13, 2012

Answer 2

Just one other little sidenote to mention: even if it were preterite (which it's not), the 3rd person singular (for "flag") you would use would be estuvo ,and not estuve. To make things a tad more complicated, estaba works for both 1st person (yo) and 3rd person (él, ella, ustd) in the imperfect.

Answer 3

It would be "estaba" because the "the flag was flying" indicates an ongoing action in the past. The army entering is a certain event and the flag flying is something that had been occuring for an indeterminate amount of time before.

Answer 4

Answer 5

Answer 6

its estaba