Fue or Era?

Question

When talking about some sort of emotionin the past, do you use era, or fue? For example: if I want to say something like it was very sad, would I say Era muy triste, or Fue muy triste? Another: era muy fabuloso o fue muy fabuloso?

Buena pregunta... :) - NikkiLR, Apr 29, 2014

Answer 1

It is more common to use the imperfect with emotions (estar) and descriptions (usually ser) in the past although with descriptions often both choices are often possible depending on the perspective.

Here's a couple of examples with the imperfect.

Su voz era triste.

Ella estaba triste.

As a general rule if you're viewing something as an event (you could put a set time or time period on it if you really had to, even if it would be something like between 2pm and 11pm or between 1966 and 2014) then use the preterite. If not, use the imperfect.

Here's an example using fue.

Fue muy triste para mi despedirme de mis compañeros.

You can see that the speaker was referring to an event.

Perhaps these resources will help you.

Lo que pasó vs lo que pasaba

The preterite and imperfect tenses.

I'm also writing a book/lesson on ser and estar in the past but I'm afraid that it will be part of the premium content on my site as I'm putting a lot if time and effort into it and I hope that it will be a valuable resource for one of the trickier aspects of Spanish.

thanks kiwi, I will look into them. That is cool that you are writing a book on that. I am sure it will help many people!!! :) - actorgirl, Apr 1, 2014

:) - Kiwi-Girl, Apr 1, 2014

I shall be looking foreward to that book Kiwi , thanks mate. - ray76, Apr 30, 2014

Answer 2

I agree with Kiwi and rogspax.

I would add that you could use "estaba" too:

Yo estaba muy triste.

Thanks Luis, a very important point, I've clarified my answer in that regard. :) - Kiwi-Girl, Apr 29, 2014

Answer 3

Agree with Kiwi. Generally someone is in some given emotional state for a rather diffuse, ill-defined period, and thus past emotions tend to be the imperfect (indicative or subjunctive, depending on the context). If you really wanted to emphasize the briefness and-or distinctness of a time period for an emotion, then I´m sure you could make a case for the preterite in the right contexts, but generally, imperfect.

Answer 4

I forgot to mention for your fabulous example I'd lean towards 'estuvo' (being a subjective opinion') but 'fue' is another valid option.

La película estuvo/fue fabulosa.

Estuvo to give your opinion, fue to give it what you believe would be a universally accepted classification.

Answer 5

to be = ser/estar

I was = (yo) era/fui - estaba/estuve

Something that both, Spanish and English learners must keep in mind.

thanks! :) - actorgirl, Apr 30, 2014