Why preterite?

ShirleyC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Why preterite?

Ustedes no existieron para pagar impuestos.

Hi, why is preterite used here instead of the imperfect? The preterite implies that Ustedes no longer exist.

Asked 1 year ago
InmaKwiziq team member

Hola Shirley

The actual sentence is a bit odd all together actually and that meaning of "existieron" is not a literal "existed", it has an extra meaning. Therefore, to avoid confusion I changed it to a completely different sentence. 

Saludos

Why preterite?

Ustedes no existieron para pagar impuestos.

Hi, why is preterite used here instead of the imperfect? The preterite implies that Ustedes no longer exist.

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