Había vs HuboWe are taught that El Pretérito Imperfecto is used for past actions that were ongoing with no clear end that describes what was happening or what things were like. Also El Pretérito Imperfecto is used for past habitual action, repeated / regularly occuring past actions, and actions that used to happen in the past.
We are also taught El Pretérito Indefinido is used to describe past actions in a way that conveys the sense that were completed / finished, this can be one off actions / events, series of actions, actions that happened a specific number of times, actions that happened at a specific point in time, and actions that interrupt an ongoing past action.
However most of the time these two past tenses translate to the same in English which can cause us problems with which one to use.
So after studying these two tenses a lot, I think that I have a trick that helps me most of the time choose the right tense. (although with some verbs, I need to study the nuances just a little more)
So if I want to describe a past action, as in setting a scene or convey the action was ongoing without showing an ending etc. Then I use El Pretérito Imperfecto, Había, comía, hablaba, pensaba.
Now with El Pretérito Indefinido hubo, comió, habló, pensó, I have started to think of it as a fact (100%) to help me know that the action has happened and finished / completed. (or didn't happen if we use NO infront of the verb)
When it comes to había and hubo (from the verb Haber to exist in this use) they translate the same in English as '’there was'’ and our English thinking part of the brain doesn't know what to do with the word hubo.
Therefore to help with this, I asked myself '’is this a descriptive '’there was'’ (había) or is this a '’there was'’(hubo) that is stating a fact (100%)'’.
Había mucha comida en la fiesta. (descriptive)
Hubo mucha comida en la fiesta. (fact)
There was a lot of food at the party.
Había una reunión importante el sábado. (descriptive)
Hubo una reunión importante el sábado. (fact)
There was an important meeting on Saturday.
I hope I am on the right path of choosing the right tense when talking about the past, I think it's all down to what you want to convey to the listener, description or fact.
In the kwiz, there was a phrase to complete: "Me vi tentada ..." I had selected tentado instead of tentada, which was marked wrong. The thing was that there was no indication, neither in the sentence itself or in the instructions, that the speaker was female. Why then would "Me vi tentado..." be incorrect?
I am translating a feedback survey for an event. Could someone kindly check my work?
What did you like best about this event?
¿Qué es lo que más te gustó de este evento?
What is something you learned?
¿Qué es algo que aprendiste?
Please Share any feedback
Por favor, comparta cualquier comentario
Hola,
I have a particular interest in art, so I enjoyed doing this exercise. Yet, I have to agree with David that this lesson was possibly more challenging than the AI level.
I needed to listen to the measurements several times because I was unfamiliar with the use of "veinte coma dos" for example. (Although, I should have guessed, since this is similar to the French use of a comma instead of a decimal point.) After the first measurement, I was able to understand the second one. A good learning experience for me. I am coming back to Spanish, and have a lot to review and much more to learn for the first time.
May I suggest that there is a link to a lesson about numbers with decimals?
Gracias y Saludos
In this note, it says quedar is for emphasising the result of an action, quedarse is for expressing the result of a change. What difference is there? It seems all the same. Example, va a quedarse contento con esta noticia. She is going to be happy with this news. ¡Laura va a quedarse pasmada con la noticia!M
What's the difference between "que" and "quien"
I don't understand why this is wrong:
"Los fontaneros, ________ vienen esta tarde, van a arreglar el grifo."
Why is it "que" insteda of "quien"?
¡Quién lo diría que de un tratado de contabilidad podría salir tanto vocabulario nuevo!
Un gran trabajo, ¡bien hecho!
En la frase "me quedo comtemplándola por horas", debería ser "contemplándola".
We are taught that El Pretérito Imperfecto is used for past actions that were ongoing with no clear end that describes what was happening or what things were like. Also El Pretérito Imperfecto is used for past habitual action, repeated / regularly occuring past actions, and actions that used to happen in the past.
We are also taught El Pretérito Indefinido is used to describe past actions in a way that conveys the sense that were completed / finished, this can be one off actions / events, series of actions, actions that happened a specific number of times, actions that happened at a specific point in time, and actions that interrupt an ongoing past action.
However most of the time these two past tenses translate to the same in English which can cause us problems with which one to use.
So after studying these two tenses a lot, I think that I have a trick that helps me most of the time choose the right tense. (although with some verbs, I need to study the nuances just a little more)
So if I want to describe a past action, as in setting a scene or convey the action was ongoing without showing an ending etc. Then I use El Pretérito Imperfecto, Había, comía, hablaba, pensaba.
Now with El Pretérito Indefinido hubo, comió, habló, pensó, I have started to think of it as a fact (100%) to help me know that the action has happened and finished / completed. (or didn't happen if we use NO infront of the verb)
When it comes to había and hubo (from the verb Haber to exist in this use) they translate the same in English as '’there was'’ and our English thinking part of the brain doesn't know what to do with the word hubo.
Therefore to help with this, I asked myself '’is this a descriptive '’there was'’ (había) or is this a '’there was'’(hubo) that is stating a fact (100%)'’.
Había mucha comida en la fiesta. (descriptive)
Hubo mucha comida en la fiesta. (fact)
There was a lot of food at the party.
Había una reunión importante el sábado. (descriptive)
Hubo una reunión importante el sábado. (fact)
There was an important meeting on Saturday.
I hope I am on the right path of choosing the right tense when talking about the past, I think it's all down to what you want to convey to the listener, description or fact.
In the example,
El armario es dificil de montar, can you say (difícil a montar)?
Is that acceptable in any situation?
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