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Él estaba justo detrás de míThis is the place for questions about conjugations, verb tenses, adverbs, adjectives, word order, syntax and other grammar questions for English or Spanish. |
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#1
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Él estaba justo detrás de mí
As preterit and imperfect tense is concerned, this question "Él estaba justo detrás de mí.". Why it's using estaba instead of estuvo? I looks up all the rules in the book regarding preterit and imperfect tenses and I just can't seem to differentiate them. Thank you!
Last edited by Rusty; September 29, 2021 at 02:56 PM. Reason: moved to its own thread |
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#2
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It is most likely that this sentence is a part of a story being told. The action that happened in the past (preterit) most likely occurred in another sentence, or in an upcoming sentence. This sentence is 'setting the stage' for that other action that happened in the past.
The imperfect is used for narratives about the past, explaining things that were in process when something else happened (or was happening, or was about to happen, in the past). There are other reasons to use the imperfect, but this sentence is describing an action that was in progress, in the past. |
#3
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Thank you
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