Imperfect with mientras and siempre

Question

Are there special rules with the imperfect for these two?

ex: Mientras yo hablaba mi madre _______(cocinar)

(I think this would be cocinaba, however not sure)

ex: Anoche ella siempre __________(cantar) para todo del noche

(I think this would also be imperfect however I am so confused because it happened only one night but was ongoing)

I remember hearing or reading something about using the preterite and imperfect with one of these I just cannot place it I have looked all over my book and everywhere. Please Help!

Answer 1

I am still more "miss" than "hit" with these two past tenses. Sometimes, these two analogies help me distinguish them:

Think about imperfect as "time travel:" you (or make your listener) travel back to the past, and experience/observe the event closely and vividly.

Think about preterit as "flash back:" you stay in the present, just telling/thinking what had happened in the past. The key is that the event is over.

Answer 2

I would think number 2 should be more like:

Anoche cantó toda de la noche. But I am not sure of cantaba vs cantó, either.

I am assuming that the intent was approx. "Last night, she sang all night" Or. "She sang all through the night" Or. She sang all night long.

Concuerdo contigo. Sin embargo me parece muy repetitivo anoche y noche... - maestroantonio, Dec 17, 2012

Quizá: "Anoche cantó durante toda la velada" :O) - maestroantonio, Dec 17, 2012

Sentence 2 needs to be rewritten, folks. It just does not make sense. - francobollo, Dec 17, 2012

¨me parece muy repetitivo anoche y noche¨ A mí tambien, en ambos idiomas. Usually, to avoid that, we´d just leave off last-night - anoche, and then let the listener inquire further if they wanted to know on which night. Hard to say unclumsily. - rogspax, Dec 17, 2012

And Franco, I tend to agree with you, but attempting express we don´t really know what the person meant, even orginally in English -- much less how it should be expressed in Spanish. - rogspax, Dec 17, 2012

Answer 3

Mientras yo hablaba, mi madre cocinaba.

Sentence 2 just makes no sense. :O)

makes no sense.. You are right about sentence 2 - francobollo, Dec 17, 2012

Gracias amigo, he corregido. ;O) - maestroantonio, Dec 17, 2012