Why doe we use "supo" instead of "sabia" here?

Michael B.C1Kwiziq community member

Why doe we use "supo" instead of "sabia" here?

Why is it "Mi abuela sabia cocinar", but "Mi abuela supo cuidarme muy bien"?  Shouldn't both sentences be in imperfect tense? My assumption is that the action is descriptive and doesn't have a definite start or end.

Asked 3 years ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hola Michael

If the preterite supo is used then we see this action as something that happened during a time and had an end. If we use the imperfect sabía then we see this as more descriptive without paying any attention to when exactly that happened.

Saludos

Inma

Michael B. asked:

Why doe we use "supo" instead of "sabia" here?

Why is it "Mi abuela sabia cocinar", but "Mi abuela supo cuidarme muy bien"?  Shouldn't both sentences be in imperfect tense? My assumption is that the action is descriptive and doesn't have a definite start or end.

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