Conjugation: Preterite or Imperfect?

Question

I want to say, "When Bob counted the pesos, Bob had a strong faith and was very religious so he believed that the employees were theives." This is what I got:

"Cuando Bob contaba los pesos, Bob (tuvo/tenía) un fuerte fe y (fue/era) muy religioso (not sure how to say so in this case) (creyó/creía) que los empleados eran ladrones."

Answer 1

I really believe that unless you use mientras in place of cuando (which would sound maybe a little odd in this context), that the first would be preterit (contar). That is a done deal, he counted them and is done, and if you leave cuando with imperfect, it sounds to me more like when he used to count them (every time he used to). The rest I think it more depends on whether you want to close those feelings- preterit if you want to imply he had strong faith, was very religious, and believed- but no longer is in each of those cases- those feelings are gone- imperfect if you want to say he had strong faith, was very religious, and believed- but I am not going to or am not able to tell you whether that is still the case. I agree with eran- I personally probably would have done every verb but contar in the imperfect.

Just my opinion as an intermediate level learner so you may want to hear other answers as well before you decide.

Well done, I'd just mention that there is a terrible grammar rule floating about which says that cuando is almost always followed by the preterite. Cuando contaba is fine but the meaning would be habitual. You might like to check this fun game out ... - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 25, 2014

http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/177549/game-rules-for-imperfect-preterite - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 25, 2014

Answer 2

You'll find that you learn better if you have a go yourself, no need to be shy around here.

I presume you're referring to the habitual action of counting money rather than a specific time when he was counting he money? (If it was a one off, specific event that you're referring to, contaba should be 'contó'.)

Tenía una fe fuerte y era muy religioso, por eso ...

I'm not sure what having a strong faith and being religious has to do with believing that his employees were thieves lol but you're telling the story.

As far as creía or creyó goes it depends on context. If your next sentence says that he found out that they weren't then you could use creyó signalling the fact that his belief changed at some stage. If he carried on believing it use creía. It depends on what you want to express.

I think we're saying about the same thing in different ways, at least as I read it. - bosquederoble, Jul 25, 2014

Sí bien hecho :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 25, 2014

Kiwi, I would say there is a strong probability that counting refers to the habitual act of counting since he is an employer counting out the wages for his employees, who he believed were thieves! - FELIZ77, Jul 26, 2014

so the imperfect indicative would be used :) - FELIZ77, Jul 26, 2014

Answer 3

Hello Roger,

Welcome to the SpanishDict forum

You said:

I want to say, "When Bob counted the pesos, Bob had a strong faith and was very religious so he believed that the employees were theives

When Bob counted (used to count) the pesos he had a strong faith and was very religious so he believed that the employees were thieves!

(I would say) = Cuando Bob contaba los pesos tenía una fuerte fe y era muy religioso, por eso creía que sus empleados eran ladrones.

I hope this helps