Estaba/Estuve
Why is the following correct:
"Estaba en el medio de algo"
While this one is not:
"Estuve en el medio de algo"
What i meant to say is "Sorry, i was in the middle of something"
3 Answers
"Estuve en el medio de algo esta mañana a las ocho". - dennywells
Pardon me for jumping in, but the above phrase "esta mañana a los ocho" doesn't alter the fact that for an unknown amount of time "I was in the middle of something", estaba en el medio de algo.
My argentinian friend told me "estuve" is just incorrect, so I guess it doesn't really matter if I completed the action or not. - idanr84
Of course it does, that's why your friend said it was wrong. As your friend said,
"Estoy en el medio de algo" - I am (currently)
"Estaba en el medio de algo" - I was (for an undetermined amount of time)
"Estuve en el medio de algo" - It just does not make sense, the tense doesn't work, it's like the phrase is demanding some other information. For example:
Ayer cuando me llamaste no pude hablar contigo porque estaba en el medio de algo.
Yesterday when you called (a precise instance of time) I couldn't talk (a precise instance of time) to you because I was (don't know when it started or whether or not it was finished) in the middle of something.
I think the phrase means something like "I was in the middle of something." Having more context is always helpful in understanding something like this but, one of the cases in which the imperfect (estaba) is used is when the stage is being set for something else that happened such as "I was reading a book when the telephone rang." "Estaba leyendo un libro cuando sonó el teléfono." The phrase "I was in the middle of something sounds like the stage is being set for something else.
See if this clears it up:
There are two simple past tenses, the imperfect indicative and the preterit.
"Imperfect" suggests incomplete. If you trace the meaning of the word perfect or perfection back to it's Latin roots it comes from "perficio" — "to finish", "to bring to an end."
So the 'imperfect' indicative expresses an action or state in the past that was continuous and it's completion was not indicated.
The preterit expresses an action that was completed some time in the past.
With that in mind, does the sentence "I was in the middle of something" express an action that was completed, or one that was continuous and it's completion was not indicated?
