"I was there until 4:00pm." Grammar/ Imperfect or Preterite?

Question

In my ongoing journey to master the preterite vs. imperfect, I've stumbled across this bump. The translator says that "I was there until 4:00pm" translates to "Estaba allí hasta las 4:00".

From everything I've learned about the preterite vs. imperfect, I would have thought that "Estuve allí hasta las 4:00" would be more correct because (although it was an ongoing action in the past) it's definitely over and is not being used as background information, but a fact.

I was searching Linguee with the phrase "was there until" and I was finding results where the preterite was used, not the imperfect, which also goes against the translator: http://www.linguee.es/espanol-ingles/search?source=auto&query=was+there+until

Seeking clarification and an explanation, ¡gracias!

Welcome to SpanishDict. A tip: You cannot put your trust in the translators. They are there to help, but are often wrong. - rac1, Jan 12, 2017

Yes, I would agree. Hence my skepticism with the translator's answer. - al_gee, Jan 14, 2017

Answer 1

Yo usaría el pretérito por haberse acabado definitivamente lo de "estar". Como ejemplo ofrezco esto que leí en un periódico esta misma mañana:

"Bastian estuvo acompañado hasta las 11:00 pm por una sobrina que le había dejado un dinero para que hiciera mercado el lunes....."

Estoy de acuerdo - 005faa61, Jan 12, 2017

¡Muchas gracias! - al_gee, Jan 14, 2017