Do the "preterite" tenses of "to be" verbs ever go together with present particples?
Forgive me for not knowing all the correct words in discussing grammar. Here´s a sample sentence of "imperfect tense of a to-be verb + present participle":
A las 8 de la mañana, él estaba pescando. At 8 in the morning, he was fishing.
I want to know, rather than the imperfect tense of a to-be verb, is it ever the case where the preterite tense of a to-be verb is used preceding a present participle.
Will I ever encounter the form: "pretertie of to-be + present participle"? For instance, building off the example sentence I used, is there any conceivable sentence which calls for using "...estuvo pescando..."?
EDIT: People throwing around the word "progressive" threw me off. I haven´t heard that word, regarding grammar, since high school. But, I looked it up and refreshed myself a little. For anyone that´s a beginner like me that is interested, this question, according to my internet sleuthing, pertains to what is called the "preterite progressive tense" in Spanish and it does indeed exist (i.e. "preterite of to-be + present participle" exists). About.com has some information on it here: http://spanish.about.com/od/conjugation/a/progressiveverb.htm (scroll down to "preterite progressive"). Thank you to everyone that has been helping with this question.
6 Answers
Estuvieron pescando con nosotros por 5 horas en el río Colorado.
The above example given by pescador1 is totally correct and widely used. The use of the preterite here is not dictated by the present participle that follows it (which is only used to state the progression of the action). The preterite is used to describe an action that started 5 hours ago and ended. Period.
Other examples to illustrate a choice of preterite vs. imperfect.
Estuvo estudiando toda la noche para el examen final. This action started and ended. The night ended and a new day began.
Estaba estudiando para el examen cuando sonó el teléfono. This requires the imperfect to describe two actions that took place simultaneously. No further information is given as to when this action ended. As far as we know, they may still be on the phone.
I hope this helps!
Estaban pescando (por 5 horas) cuando les llegó la hora de irse.
Estuvieron pescando (por 5 horas) cuando les llegó la hora de irse/y después de fueron.
The first, in the past, explains what they were doing when (suddenly) they had to leave (for whatever reasons)
the second one states what they had been doing up until the time to leave came up/or what they did afterwards.
Does that make sense?
Here you are, a reference. It's more often likely to be estaba pescando, as a background, unknown time limit, however, it appears the preterite can be used, sounds a bit odd to me, but I'm still learning.
Unfortunatly the link actually doesn't come up very well in my computer, but, I think it makes sense, what bits of it I can see..
http://www.espanol-ingles.com.mx/spanish-grammar/verbs_imperfect_usage_2.shtml
Estuvieron pescando con nosotros por 5 horas en el río Colorado.
Actually, this would have to be imperfect "Estaban" because any verb in progressive by nature indicates an ongoing action and not a start or finish. The action may be finished, but we can not know this by the use of a progressive verb. Pretérito of "to be" + progressive doesn´t make sense.
You will absolutely encounter forms like this. All the time. Usually used to describe an event that the speaker perceives as being completed. One example along the lines of your example would be:
Estuvieron pescando con nosotros por 5 horas en el río Colorado.
Estaban pescando (por 5 horas) cuando les llegó la hora de irse. Estuvieron pescando (por 5 horas) cuando les llegó la hora de irse/y después de fueron. The first, in the past, explains what they were doing when (suddenly) they had to leave (for whatever reasons) the second one states what they had been doing up until the time to leave came up/or what they did afterwards. Does that make sense?
It does make sense, thanks. The meanings seem very close to me, as a beginner. So, the first one feels more sudden? As in something was interrupted, whereas in the second, the activity was already complete, and then it was time to go???
