Paseaba por la plaza cuando oyó que alguien lo llamaba. O Paseaba por la plaza cuando oía que alguien lo llamaba?

Question

Which is correct or both?

Answer 1

Because it is an interrupted action. He was walking through the plaza when he heard someone call him. He was doing something before the interruption occurred. You always use the imperfect to set up what someone WAS doing and then when the interruption happens (usually is prompted by words such as cuando) you switch to the preterite. Also, the imperfect is used to describe what someone was doing. So he was walking through the plaza, when someone called him (it is a finished action. It only happened once. It is not re-occurring. So then you use the preterite.) Does this make sense?

But someone calling him it's also an action, called him in the past, but why it's imperfecto but not preterite? - zhmelissa, Sep 19, 2012

I'm not really sure...sorry. I guess the calling was a repeated action. - carmencita92, Sep 19, 2012

Answer 2

From my book,the first one is correct. But my confusion is, why it's oyó but not oía??

Answer 3

And I would say lo llamo

Answer 4

Paseaba por la plaza cuando oyó que alguien lo llamaba