"recibir" Preterite vs. imperfect
Why would the conjugation of "recibir" be preterite instead of imperfect in the sentence below?
Los bomberos no recibieron una llamada hasta la medianoche.
It sounds right, but the "not receiving" signifies an ongoing action and the "hasta" indicates an interruption of an ongoing action.
I would like a rock solid rule for this.
3 Answers
To receive a call is a simple action that starts and finishes the minute one picks up the phone, so preterito should be used, however it should be ninguna llamada / ni una llamada.
I'm sorry I don't know the spanish grammar very well ( even though it's my first language ), so I don't know the rules... BUT this sentence could mean two different things: 1: It was already the midnight and they didnt' receive any call......or 2 :They received the call at the midnight . I'm sorry ,spanish is confusing sometimes .
Well, the minute they got the call is when the action happened, before that'' estaban esperando'' pero no pasó nada hasta que recibieron una llamada de urgencia.
