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Past tense of ir a...

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Would it be fue a invitar or iba a invitar? What would be the difference?

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updated Jan 6, 2016
posted by mxh1901

3 Answers

1
vote

Here are two additional sources that may help:

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/fui-a-infinitive.979449/

This may be a confusion of:

"Fui a comer." -> I went [somewhere] to eat.

"Iba a comer." -> I was going to eat.

http://college.cengage.com/languages/spanish/caycedo/claro/6e/assets/students/protected/flash/product/claro_grammar_web/chapter09.html

Gramática para la comunicación II

I. Narrating and Describing in the Past (Part III)

A. Expressing Past Intentions and Responsibilities:

Iba a + infinitive and tenía/tuve que + infinitive

  1. To express what you were going to do, but didn't, use iba a + infinitive. To tell what you actually did, use the preterit.

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Please note in contrast with what the last says, iba a infinitivo does not always mean what you were going to do but didn't if you use it in a true sense of imperfect, if I am correct:

Iba a comer a la casa de mi abuela todos los domingos. I used to go eat at my grandmother's house every Sunday.

( This all being said, in real use I say iba a infinitivo all the time for what I was going to do but didn't. I don't recall ever saying fui a infinitivo, nor iba a infinitivo in the way I did before. If I were using fui, I would be personally more likely to say something like:

Fui a la casa de mi abuela para cenar.

Not that this last bit means anything. )

updated Jan 11, 2016
edited by bosquederoble
posted by bosquederoble
2
votes

Look here for the difference between the preterit and the imperfect.

Your fue a invitar and iba a invitar can both be correct, depending on context.

updated Jan 11, 2016
posted by jtaniel
0
votes

Please fill out you profile, we can not help you very well if we do not know your English and Spanish levels let alone your gender. Another thing I do not want to start anything but to me it kind of looks like you want us to do your work, now this might not be your case but from now on please put an English and Spanish version of what you want to say so there is no confusion. PS this is only mandatory

Okay mate the difference between the two is: Fue a invitar: It was to invite

Iba a invitar : was going to invite

updated Jan 5, 2016
edited by Nickelbackfan1
posted by Nickelbackfan1