Imperfect or Preterite in this case?

Question

I want to say "his friends did not talk to him, so he was sad"

I think that the beginning would be:

Sus amigos no hablaban con él, y por eso, Jacob (el niño) estar triste.

Please someone help :( - nflrocks123, Oct 31, 2014

Have patience. I'm not 100% sure, so I'm going to abstain from answering. However, I am definitely interested in the answer. - 00ffada9, Oct 31, 2014

Okay. I will wait :/ - nflrocks123, Oct 31, 2014

Thanks for all the answers :) - nflrocks123, Oct 31, 2014

Answer 1

I totally agree with JulianChivi. The sentence must be "Sus amigos no le hablaban, por eso Jacob estaba triste"

It is impossible to use the subjuntive form in this sentence.

Also, i want to comment the title of the post:

The title is "preterite or imperfect" is strange because In spanish there are two verbal tenses for the simple past, but both are preterite:

• Preterito imperfecto: Preterito because is a past tense and imperfecto because at the moment you are talking about, the action of the verb was not finished: Example: Hacía frío y la niña temblaba -> It was cold and the girl was shivering

• Preterito perfecto simple: Preterito because is a past tense and perfecto because at the moment you are talking about the action of the verb was finished: Example: Ayer, Pedro llamó a la puerta-> yesterday, Peter knocked on the door

It's been so long since I had to know these different terms, so I am not disputing what you say. But in the conjugation part of this site, in the indicative section, there is the preterit and then the imperfect. Is that just because of space limitations - Winkfish, Oct 31, 2014

I didn't want to offense you. I only tried to help forum people because i know that verb tenses is one of the most difficult things for the english speakers. - txustaboy, Oct 31, 2014

No offense was taken, Amigo. Actually, I was worried I would offend you. I just want to learn. ;-) - Winkfish, Oct 31, 2014

It is a further confusion, Txustaboy, that in our grammars and lessons the tenses usually are called preterite and imperfect, then you get to Spain and now it is the Preterito indefenido. Just different names, but further confusion! - annierats, Nov 7, 2014

I know it, and i know that the web used that "names" because there are space limitations. But i think that if you learn that names and in the future you study spanish it could be confused. - txustaboy, Nov 7, 2014

Answer 2

I don´t see any need for subjunctive here. There is no context, but I think you are recounting two past actions one after another, not talking and becoming sad as a result. And assuming these actions both ended, I would say something in preterite like: Como no le hicieron caso, se entristeció / No hablaron con él, entonces se puso triste / etc.

Answer 3

I think past subjunctive = estuviera

Why? The first clause is in the past so the second clause also needs to be in the past

Subjunctive because unless he told us and we know for certain that he was sad we are speculating about his emotion, which I think calls for the subjunctive.

Answer 4

I would like to stick my two centavo's worth in here. In the US the Spanish Textbooks that we use define the Preterite as the tense that indicates COMPLETED action in the past. I spoke to the teacher. Le hablé al profesor. I broke my arm. Me quebré el brazo, etc.

Whereas what we call the "Imperfect" in the US and most of the rest of Latin America, is the tense that deals with "Incomplete action" in the past like: Adela was reading her book when her friend called. (She didn't get to finish the phone call, at least at that time) Adela leía su libro cuando su amiga llamó.
Imperfect also translates past ONGOING action, like: Every winter would go to the mountains to go skiing. Cada invierno íbamos a la montaña a esquiar.

It also translates the English "used to" Carla y Luis used to be friends, but no longer. Carla y Luis eran amigos, pero ya no.

There are numerous other uses such as telling time in the past and certain kinds of descriptions. Maybe someone else can elaborate.
I hope I helped a little. Dani

I forgot to put in my alternative using just the simple preterite: Sus amigos no le hablaron (a él) y por eso se puso triste. Anybody like this? - Daniela2041, Nov 8, 2014

Answer 5

If you want to imply that his friends were not talking to him anymore or over a period of time, I would say: "Sus amigos no le hablaban con a él y por eso Jacob estaba triste." His friends were not talking to him and so he was feeling sad.

If you want to imply that his friends did not talk to him once and as a result he got sad, I would say "Sus amigos no le hablaron con a él y por eso Jacob estuve triste." His friends did not talk to him so he was sad.

I am not a native speaker, and I see no need for the subjunctive here. One of our native speakers may reply and you should follow his / her advice.

As I have just done with changing it to hablar a

"hablar con" doesn´t use the IO pronoun - only "hablar a" - 005faa61, Oct 31, 2014

The sentence verbs are perfect but i would eliminate "a él" because "le" just show that is to him. - txustaboy, Oct 31, 2014

The "a él" is OK if you want to enphasize it for some reason otherwise "EL JUBILADO" is right on as usual. (except for "estuve" which means "I was") - Daniela2041, Nov 8, 2014

Answer 6

estaba