How to say "was" correctly?

Question

To say "The girl was running to school", would I use:

La chica estaba corriendo a la escuela.

OR

La chica corrió a la escuela?

As explained below - for the past continuous in English "was running" the Spanish imperfect is often used. - ian-hill, Sep 5, 2014

Please fill out your profile so that we may better help you .Bienvenido y buena suerte amiga - ray76, Sep 9, 2014

Answer 1

The imperfect is tailor made for was doing something, if the context is she was doing this when something happened. You are setting the scene.

La chica corría a la escuela cuando algo sucedió.

Corrió would be ran. La chica corrió a la escuela. The girl ran to the school.

Estaba corriendo could be used, but is more reserved (to my understanding) for when you want to emphasize the action that was occurring and the fact she was in the midst of it. Which depending on the rest of it, might be very appropriate here.

I am an intermediate level learner so I would wait for other input as well.

The Corrio was an error on my part, didn't even notice it XD. Thanks for the help. - unbelievable, Sep 5, 2014

De nada. :) - bosquederoble, Sep 5, 2014

Answer 2

You can say, La Chica estaba corriendo but I would say that it would be better to say .. La chica corria a la escuela ...