Use of the indefinido

Question

Hola Inma,I'd like some help with the following. Since the present and indefinido "we" form of -ar verbs are spelled the same, I would like to check something. The related lessons are all about the indefinido, but there is a strong implication that some of the events would still be on-going, such as cultivating crops etc, raising livestock and producing electricity. Do we assume that these are no longer being carried out, or does this narrative style of events over a fixed period of time allow us to use the indefinido throughout, even if some of the events have been started and are still ongoing?SaludosJohn

Accepted Answer

Hola John,

Using the time phrase "Hace dos años" is going to imply that all those activities were carried out then. They did start and we see them as things that started and had an end. The fact that, because of the context, we assume that some of these activities are probably being carried out still now in the present, doesn't take away the fact that they were done back then, two years ago.

If we go to the beginning of the text where it says: "Hace dos años fuimos a vivir al campo. Construimos una finca autosostenible."; that was what happened two years ago (done and finished). Then all the activities that come after were part of that process which also "happened then".

Now, I can see how you think this is still ongoing (it probably is...). It is the fact that one doesn't build all that and do all those activities in a short time and that's it. But even implying this, we still use the Indefinido. There is a way to express the ongoing activities using other tenses, for example:

"Hace dos años fuimos a vivir al campo. Desde entonces, hemos estado construyendo una finca autosostenible. Hemos estado criando..., hemos estado cultivando... " This way it conveys the unfinished action.

I hope this clarified it.

Saludos,

Inma

Answer

Hola Inma,Yes that's much clearer; I hadn't understood the context clearly enough. In English we don't have to think as much about the past tenses, or we bend the rules a lot.SaludosJohn