Fue or Era?? Spanish!!

Question

Heyyy,

Guys, would it be 'Fue agotadora' or 'Era agotadora'. My sentence is "El primer día, tuvimos que despertarnos a las 6:00 a practicar senderismo. ¿Lo puedes creer? Fue/Era agotadora"

I initially posted then deleted because I thought you wanted to say 'exhausted' as opposed to 'exhausting', in which case it would be 'estar'.' - Faldaesque, May 29, 2015

In this case I would say 'fue' because it's over & done with, but I'm not native... ;-) - Faldaesque, May 29, 2015

Welcome to SpanishDict. Please add your language proficiency to your profile. Also, you need to make an attempt. Someone can then make any necessary corrections. - rac1, May 29, 2015

Thank you for your time and help Falda-Escoce :D - EffieE, May 29, 2015

Answer 1

This doubt is common in the non-native Spanish speaker. English, only have one simple past but Spanish have two pretérito perfecto simple and pretérito imperfecto. The difference between both is the finish of the action of the verb. The verb you asked for, is not the best example to show it, but I will try it.

Pretérito perfecto simple: Fue. In this case you said that it was exhausting. The action of the verb is finished, it was exhausting but not now.

Pretérito imperfecto : Era. In this other case, the action of the verb is not finished at the moment you talk about.

So, your sentence should be:

El primer día, tuvimos que despertarnos a las 6:00 para practicar senderismo. ¿Te lo puedes creer? Fue agotador.

:) - ian-hill, May 29, 2015

"used to" can be used for some imperfects amigo. "I used to live in London" Soler vivir or vivía. - ian-hill, May 29, 2015

Of course, but you need to talk about something that you did often. So, that kind of imperfect past is a particular case :). - txustaboy, May 29, 2015

A perfect answer, once again txustaboy - have a lovely day!! - EffieE, May 29, 2015