Dormir and imperfect tense

Question

Is there any difference between

estaba durmiendo and me dormía

please?

Answer 1

There's a difference. Estaba durmiendo means "I was sleeping/I slept". Me dormía means "I was falling asleep" or "I used to fall asleep"

I hope this helps!

Thanks for this. I forgot the 'dual role' of imperfect as 'used to' or as 'background information'. Back to the quizzes.... - J_G_Duff, Sep 13, 2012

Answer 2

Just a little thing to note, dormirse (for your second example) means to fall asleep but dormir means to be asleep so you might just mean '(yo) dormía) for the second one.

But to your question, personally in this case I don't think there's neccesarily much difference between yo 'estaba durmiendo' and yo 'dormía' although context is important as dormía in other contexts could also mean 'I used to sleep'.

Perhaps a native speaker will have a little more enlightenment for you though (smiley) or if you're really into grammar you might like to plough through this jeje

Can't say I'm 'really' into grammar but grammar does seem out to get me! - J_G_Duff, Sep 13, 2012