Narcos - Dónde estabas?

Question

Hola

Today while I was watching the tv series, Narcos, I heard Pablo Escobar saying "Dónde estabas?" to his cousin, when they hadn't seen each other for one day. Is it correct in this case? Shouldn't it be more like "Dónde estuviste?". Or maybe both are correct, aren't they?

Gracias

Answer 1

Both sound OKAY, but to be honest you hear "Dónde estabas?" a lot more (sounds more natural.) Typically when you are talking about where someone is, you are talking about a period of time so you would use the imperfect tense. For example, in the sentence "I couldn't do the homework because you were not here" You would say use "estabas" for you were. Estuviste sounds more like where were you at that exact moment, in conversation you would probably want to use "estabas" though (Sounds more native - at least in Peru)

Answer 2

Both are ok

Answer 3

Like Drew, I hear "estabas" way more than estuviste.

The way it was explained to me is that there is little to no difference in meaning in that context between the two.

In general, use "estuviste" when you are asking for a specific answer. Something like:

¿Dónde estuviste a las 9PM?" Estuve en el cine. ¿Por qué?

"Estabas" is more for a general question and and answer.

Dónde estabas ayer, no fuiste a la reunión
Estaba haciendo unas vueltas con mi mamá

But again, based on what I was taught and in my experience you could use estabas or estuviste interchangeably in those contexts.

Answer 4

Hi drew, excellent answer, bienvenido al foro

Answer 5

I agree with Drew also. I am not a native Spanish speaker. However, I would probably say in this case:

— Llovía mucho y tuve que buscar albergue. ¿Dónde estuviste tú?

I would say it so because it was during a particular, definite time (while it was raining) and I looked for and found a place to keep dry. So, where were you at that particular time?. If I had used “tenía/estabas” it would imply that I looked for a dry place and maybe I did or maybe I didn’t find a shelter.