"Quería saber cuánto me estaba quedando"

Question

Hi,

I need some help translating this please.

'He wanted to know how long I was staying.'

I was thinking 'Quería saber que cuánto tiempo me quedaba.'

But the translator gives 'Quería saber cuánto me estaba quedando.' This makes sense to me but I thought that Spanish only uses the gerund when it's an action that's happening right that moment.

Thank you!

Answer 1

Since the asker did not know how long you were to stay there, you should use the perífrasis(one verb conjugated for a specifc person, other in gerund or infinitive) of ir a + infinitive, in this case in the imperfect past time, since it is indefinite:

• Quería saber por cuanto tiempo me iba a quedar.

Saying 'Quería saber que cuanto tiempo me quedaba.' would we understood as "he wanted to know how much time I had left"

You're explanation is great!:) - viejito, Jul 23, 2012

Bien dicho! - annierats, Jul 23, 2012

Thanks guys, and viejito I've corrected myself - diagonx, Jul 23, 2012

Answer 2

Great explanation diagonx! Very well written.However, I believe that the conditional usage with the imperfect subjunctive is: Quería saber por cuanto tiempo me quedara. (not quedaría) ?

Acutally no, it wouldn't make sense, so let us not use the subjunctive in that kind of phrases, I had to correct it, how moronic is that! Thank you! - diagonx, Jul 23, 2012

Answer 3

This is a great question, Katty.

You could say either--

• Quería saber cuánto me estaba quedando.

• Quería saber cuánto estaba quedandome.

Answer 4

You can form a "progressive" form in any tense. The action only has to be occurring in that particular time frame.

For the imperfect progressive, you can find an article here

Thanks for that, it's a topic i need to study more. - katty90, Jul 23, 2012