Spanish language learning forums

Spanish language learning forums (https://forums.tomisimo.org/index.php)
-   Grammar (https://forums.tomisimo.org/forumdisplay.php?f=19)
-   -   Estuve for "went"? (https://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=18190)

Estuve for "went"?


BobRitter May 19, 2014 11:36 AM

Estuve for "went"?
 
Online-Spanish-Course. com "Daily Spanish Exercise" has:

Ayer estuve en la tienda de informática para comprar un escáner nuevo.
Yesterday I went to the computer shop to buy a new scanner.

I understand what they are saying but don't get the "I went to" instead "I was in". Why not "Ayer fui a la......."

Julvenzor May 19, 2014 11:43 AM

Yo tampoco, en los libros de enseñanza se dan dos circunstacias opuestas:

1) Traducen literalmente y engañan al aprediz.

2) Traducen sin literalidad alguna y falsean la gramática.

"Estuve" marca un estado, "fui a" (ir), una acción; como en inglés con "went".

Un saludo.

AngelicaDeAlquezar May 19, 2014 04:23 PM

I think the reason for this is that they're not exactly translating, but using the sentence that would be more frequent in both languages. As for the meaning, Julvenzor is right; I might just add that "estuve" lets the speaker focus on the experience of being there and "fui" reduces emphasis on the fact that I spent time there choosing the item I bought. :)

Tomisimo May 20, 2014 07:40 AM

I agree 100% that you shouldn't translate something literally, word-for-word, instead you should translate the meaning. But in this case, the translation is wrong. It's very similar, but it's wrong.

Ayer estuve en la tienda... = I was at/in the store yesterday...
Ayer fui a la tienda... = I went to the store yesterday...


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:34 PM.

Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions Inc.