Are both correct? "eran vivido" o "vivían" in this context:

Question

Are both correct; one correct - one wrong; both wrong? "eran vivido" o "vivían" in this context:

1. Cuando eran vivido en Oregon pescaban muhco. (When they lived in Oregon they fished a lot.)

2. Cuando vivían en Oregon pescaban mucho. (When they lived in Oregon they fished a lot.)

Also: should the statement include "ellos pescaban"'

Answer 1

Daniel Haller said:

Why is "Ella" used in this case?

It is unlikely that you need that "ella", but it all depends on the context. No one starts a conversation or a description saying "she came to my house", because we don't know who on Earth is "she" unless we are told:

A) She came to my house today.
B) She? Who is she?

But:

A) Remember Mary? She came to my house today.
B) Really?

So, "she" is useless unless we know who are we talking about in the first place. In Spanish:

A) Vino hoy a mi casa.
B) Who?

A) ¿Recuerdas a María? Vino hoy a mi casa.
b) ¿En serio?

As you can see, saying "she" or not saying "she" makes no difference, but the mention of Maria does. In Spanish we only say "she" when we have to:

A) ¿Recuerdas a María y a Carlos? Vino hoy a mi casa
B) ¿Quién?

A) ¿Recuerdas a María y a Carlos? Ella vino hoy a mi casa.
B) ¿Y Carlos'

Answer 2

In this case is not necessary at all the "ella", is like the case of "ellos"

Answer 3

Daniel Haller said:

:

Why is "Ella" used in this case?

Because our reference section needs improvement . . .

Answer 4

OK. I just saw this statement in the "Reference/Grammar" section on SpanishDict.

"Ella está contenta porque recibió unas flores de su novio."

Why is "Ella" used in this case'

Answer 5

Thank you agian. Which is why I did not use "ellos" in my statement. However I do see "ellos" used in this context occasionally -- maybe others have bad grammer also.

Answer 6

Daniel Haller said:

:

How about "ellos pescaban"? -- is ellos redundent or does it matter?

You do NOT want to include the "ellos" here. See this discussion for example:

[url=http://my.spanishdict.com/forum/topic/show'id=1710195%3ATopic%3A571165]http://my.spanishdict.com/forum/topic/show'id=1710195%3ATopic%3A571165[/url]

Answer 7

Good call; Thanx. "estaban viviendo" sounds better and rolls off my tongue better. I also made the mistake of conjugating "ser" when I should have conjugated "estar".

How about "ellos pescaban"? -- is ellos redundent or does it matter?

Quentin said:

Are you sure that you're not trying to contrast estaban viviendo with vivían or When they were living with When they lived? Eran vivido doesn't mean they lived.

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Answer 8

Are you sure that you're not trying to contrast estaban viviendo with vivían or When they were living with When they lived? Eran vivido doesn't mean they lived.