Spanish language Q&A Forum

Hola,

I don't know if a reply occurred in some other area, but I was wondering if you could give a bit more info

to help me understand this.  I still have trouble with this particular example.

My earlier question was following  your reply for : "Why the imperfect is used and not the preterit in:"puesto que era mi cumpleaños " 

(I sent this same request on my Questions and Answers page, and didn't see the reply there,)

Muchas gracias, Nicole

Please explain 'al' in Mis amigos sintieron una gran alegría al verme.

Gracias,

Ricky

In the question, How would you say "There was an accident on the motorway" the nearest correct answer I can find is "Había un accidente...", and there isn't the option for preterite 'hubo'. However, because accidents are one time actions with clear beginnings and ends, it's more appropriate to use the preterite tense in this case. In fact, this particular sentence is a very common one to use when explaining the differences between the two conjugations and especially to illustrate why imperfect simply doesn't work here.