Questions About the Preterite

Question

My current understanding of the preterite is that it's used when an accion happened only once and has already finished. I have a couple questions about the use of the preterite:

1) What does "Estuve caminando" mean. I think it means "I was walking" but isn't that what "Estaba caminando" means?

2) Could one say something like "Fui a bailar" or would one have to say "Iba a bailar". Is the meaning affected?

3) Since the preterite isn't used for actions that happened multiple times, when would one use "Estuve" or "Fui (as in the past tense of "ser")"? So would it be "Era mi amigo" or "Fue mi amigo". How about "Estaba feliz" or "Estuvo feliz"

Answer 1

I'm a beginner at Spanish, but my understanding is that "Estuve caminando" would be the beginning of sentence like "I was walking when I met him", while "estaba caminando" would be used in a sentence like "Before my accident, I was walking 5 miles a day". Can anyone clarify?

An interrupted action uses the imperfect, while the action that interrupted is in the preteritr. - cola_jet_set, Nov 18, 2012

No "interruption" is necessary to use either tense, ie: "Estaba caminando en la calle cuando empezó un aguacero." The downpour did not stop my walking - no interruption - 005faa61, Nov 18, 2012

Not quite accurate, Peter. - --Mariana--, Nov 18, 2012

Answer 2

Great questions!

1) What does "Estuve caminando" mean. I think it means "I was walking" but isn't that what "Estaba caminando" means?

• Estuve caminando tres horas. (a set time period of walking)

• Estaba caminando cuando me llamaste. (an indefinite time period of walking)

2) Could one say something like "Fui a bailar" or would one have to say "Iba a bailar". Is the meaning affected?

• Fuí a bailar (I went dancing)

• Iba a bailar (I was going dancing)

So would it be "Era mi amigo" or "Fue mi amigo". How about "Estaba feliz" or "Estuvo feliz"

• Era mi amigo (no set time period)

• Fue mi amigo por dos años (a definite period of time)

Very nice answer, Mariana! - Noetol, Nov 18, 2012

Answer 3

While I don't normally like getting involved in grammar strings, I think this confusion arises from the fact that English does not have the past tense distinctions that Spanish has. We have only one past tense, and the complexities have to be brought out by context.

In this case the confusion is compounded by the use of progressive constructions, "estuve caminando" and "estaba caminando". It is even more confusing than "caminé" and "caminaba". Caminaba is usually interpreted as "I was walking" because English has a preference for progressive forms, but that can also be said for "estaba caminando".

In general, I try to avoid progressive forms in Spanish unless they are very clearly called for.