Fue, Era, Estuvo o Estaba?
Perhaps two of the most difficult concepts of Spanish are knowing when to use Ser vs. Estar and when to use the Preterite vs. Imperfect tense. I've been learning Spanish for over seven years now, but when putting these two together, I always get confused.
What is a good way to cement in my mind when to use the four different 3rd-person past-tense forms of English "was" (i.e. fue, era, estuvo y estaba)?
3 Answers
Kung_Phoo,
I am as lost as you are, and while I don't have your answer, I have found a technique that may help you (as it helps me).
Bring up the conjugation pages for ser and estar, and read the text you find when you click on the various tense titles (most of which you have probably seen before), then write yourself some sentences using more-or-less the same phrase over and over, but from the various tenses, etc. that you are trying to understand.
Here is one I recently did for myself:
Present
Estoy en tu casa.
I am at your house.
Simple Past
Estuve en tu casa anoche.
I was at your house last night.
Imperfect Past
Yo estaba en tu casa mucho en esos días.
I was at your house a lot in those days.
Conditional
Yo estaría en tu casa, pero no puedo.
I would be at your house, but I cannot.
Future
Estaré en tu casa mañana.
I will be at your house tomorrow.
Buena suerte!
It made me laugh when I saw the title to your post. I have the same four words written in marker pen on a notice on the wall of my kitchen to remind me to practise them ¡!
My wife asked me to explain them (she's also trying to learn Spanish) & I got in an awful muddle. I'll try and remember the examples I came up with or similar:
Enrique VIII fue rey de Inglaterra desde 1509 hasta 1547... Henry VIII was King of England, but then he died, so it's all in the past — this describes a situation that is complete... It's 'ser' because it describes the nature of what Henry was, i..e. king...
Yo era estudiante durante la guerra... I was a student during the war, but I was a student on a continuing basis for a long time & might still be a student — this describes a situation of indefinite completeness, a continuous line in the past... It's 'ser' because it describes the nature of what I was, i.e. a student...
Estuvé al punto de hacerlo cuando cambié de opinión... I was about to do something when I changed my mind — this describes a complete moment in time, a specific point in the past as opposed to a continuous line... It's 'estar' because it refers to the condition of my mind at a particular time...
Estaba nevando cuando llegé... It was snowing when I arrived & it might still be snowing — again this describes a situation of indefinite completeness, a continuous line in the past... It's 'estar' because it refers to the condition of snowing (& is part of the grammatical construct of the continuous past tense)...
Maybe this will help:
I divide the situations in three different states.
1.- General truths / or "people say" 2.- Personal expierence (usually just one dish, food, place, at the time) 3.- The final judgement
Number 1: Verdades generales - General truths are mere descriptions so most of the time you will use "ser" in present or "era" in past. And if you say that it used to be situated = estaba , now someone used to be nice : era ( because it is not a humor state but the personality)
Dicen que Perú es bonito y que la comida es muy buena. Dicen que hay bellos lugares que son maravillosos. Antes no decían nada de Perú porque no era muy conocido. No era promocionado. No hablaban de la comida ni de como era. Antiguamente la cultura Inca estaba situada en casi toda América del Sur, la ciudad principal del incanato estaba en Cusco. Los Incas eran pacíficos, trabajadores y muy buenos arquitectos. They say that Peru is pretty and that the food is good. They say there are beautiful places that are wonderful. Before they didn't use to day anything about Peru because it wasn't well known. It wasn't promoted. They didn't speak about the food or how it was. In the old times, the Inca culture was situated in almost all South America, the main city of the inca's was in Cusco. The incas were pacific people, workers, and really good architects.
2.- Experiencia personal:
El mes pasado fui a Perú. (verb of movement plus a marquer of time of the simple past tense named Indefinido). Y pedí muchos platos. Un fin de semana probé el famoso rocoto relleno con pastel de papa, estaba para chuparse los dedos (personal expierence). Estaba jugoso, sabroso y delicioso (description of something that seems to you delicious but for others it may be not tasty). Luego fui a Cusco y visité Machu Picchu. Era majestuoso , era grandísimo (description of a state of being).
3.- Juicio final:
Al final estuve en Perú por 3 meses (being placed = estar + 3 months ... exact period of time = indefinido conjugation) y disfruté mucho mi estadía. El viaje, fue genial, la comida fue espectacular (final judgment , being spectacular is like the personality of the food, that's why you use "ser") / estuvo deliciosa (final judgement= indefinido conjugation, and also you are using estar because it was a state ... it could be distasteful) , y me la pasé muy bien. At the end of my trip I was in Perú for 3 months. The trip was great (final judgement) The food was spectacular / was delicious, and I had a nice time.
There are more things:
Fue plus a person = it means the action is finished. It doesn't mean also dead... it may be the case but we don't kill people all the time using "fue" El señor Morales fue mi profesor de canto por 3 meses pero ahora es mi profesor de guitarra. Mr. Morales was my singing teacher for 3 months but now he is my guitar teacher) I may write the same sentence without the marquer of time " 3 months" then it is just a mere description and I will have to use Imperfect: El señor Morales era mi profesor de canto pero ahora es mi profesor de guitarra. Mr. Morales used to be my English teacher now he is my guitar teacher.
To make it simple. Pt. Indefinido is for facts (unique, repetitive or durable time, teh last two need to have the exact tiimes or period of time in order to work) mean while Pt. Imperfecto is for descriptions and old habits as in "I used to". So verbs of movement are facts mean while to be placed is description but if you use a marquer of time then you break that rule:
Fui a verte y no estabas. Iba a verte frecuentemente. Ayer no estuviste en tu casa.
Action verbs as (Pt. Indefinido natural conjunction) : to eat, to sleep, to sing, to walk may be conjugated in Imperfect when the place a situation ... when you need to describe in order to bring the fact - the big deal:
Estaba caminando cuando vi un accidente. I was walking when I saw an accident.
Pasive voice is always with "fue" :
It was produced by Tim Burton. Fue producido por Tim Burton.
I am a native Spanish speaker. Sorry for my poor English. I hope it helped.
