Preterite or Imperfect?????
I want to say "She sat for two hours while they ate breakfast." Would it be in the imperfect or preterite?
5 Answers
Se sentó por dos horas mientras desayunaban.
I would have chosen the preterit in the first choice, as we have a time frame to indicate that she is no longer sitting in that position that we are talking about, therefore it's completed [preterit]. The second choice I went with the imperfect, as we have no timeframe as to when they began or stopped, all we know is that they were in the process of doing it while she sat. They could still be eating breakfast for all we know.
This was a tricky one, I still could be wrong....
Great question! I struggle with the past tense choices. I really look forward to explanations by native speakers.
Here are my thoughts:
I'd say preterite for the first verb because the action "she sat" has a definite time frame "two hours" in the past, it occurred once, and it was completed in the past.
I am really undecided about the choice of past tense for the second verb. My initial reaction when I read your sentence was that I'd put the second verb in the imperfect tense because the time frame for "they eat" is not clear, i.e., they could have been eating before she sat down and/or continued eating after she stopped sitting.
As both activities were going on for some time and at the same time I'd go for the imperfect for both verbs. But let's wait for the verdict of the native speakers.
My vote is preterite. It is definitely in the past and completed. This is when the preterite is used.
Estuvo sentada para dos horas mientras ellos desayunaban...
A slight variant. I'm sure it's the imperfect for the eating, that's the backgroudn action, as we're sort of emphasizing for how long she sat I've gone for the preterite but I'm not sure. I know the ellos isn't strictly necessary.
Good question, I shall follow it.
