Imperfect to talk about the future ?

Question

my friend told me this sentence: "yo nunca te dije que venian el sabado"

When I asked her why her girlfriends aren't coming this saturday.

I don't understand why she used the imperfect to talk about the future ? Can you please clarify that for me or refer to some outside sources.

Thanks

Answer 1

Your example (capitalization and written accent would have been nice): "Yo nunca te dije que venían el sábado." would directly translate into a perfectly understandable "I never told you that they were coming on Saturday." I presume it is correct Spanish. You could also say "Nunca te dije que van a venir (vienen, vendrán) el sábado." (are going to come, are coming and will come). There is no need to keep the verb venir in only the future tense to express the same idea.

Wow! I never thought of "were coming". Now I feel stupid! - gringojrf, Aug 1, 2013

yes, I gave it some thought and decided not to answe. Full marks, Jubilado. - annierats, Aug 1, 2013

Thanks s lot, for some reason the "were coming" didn't occur to me too - idanr84, Aug 2, 2013

Answer 2

???? Bad grammar ????

Stupid Answer. - gringojrf, Aug 1, 2013

Self assessment can be a virtue and certainly worth recognition. - Jubilado, Aug 1, 2013

lol. Thanks. - gringojrf, Aug 1, 2013