La caminata

[hwils66]

Estuve caminando en el barrio y vi un vecino quien estuvo cortado la hierba. Me invitó se ayandar, pero desí "no" y continué mi camenata.

I was taking a walk in the neighborhood and saw a neighbor who was mowing the lawn. He invited me to help, but I said "no" and continued my walk.

Other that being unneighborly, how many mistakes have I made?

Howard

[Tomisimo]

First of all, well done. What you've written is completely understandable.

Originally Posted by hwils66

Estuve caminando en el barrio y vi un vecino quien estuvo cortado la hierba. Me invitó se ayandar, pero desí "no" y continué mi camenata.

I'd put it like this:

Caminaba en el barrio y vi a un vecino que estaba cortando la hierba. Me invitó a ayudarle, pero dije que no y continué mi caminata.

Explanations:

Estuve caminando. While this can be translated "I was walking", it is better for you to think of the tenses as follows:
Caminé [preterit] = I walked (and then stopped walking)
Caminaba [imperfect] = I was walking (without specifing whether I stopped or not)
Estuve caminando = I was in the act of walking (and then stopped).
Estaba caminando = I was in the act of walking (and may or may not have stopped at that time).

Try to use the imperfect (caminaba) when you would say "I was walking" in English. In your mind think of the "estuve/estaba [verb]ing" form as "I was in the act of [verb]ing"

Vi a un vecino. I'm not sure if you've studied the usage of the personal a yet, but this is it. You must say "a un vecino" and not "un vecino". More on that here.

Estaba cortando. This is very similar to "estuve caminando" above. In this case, it should be 'estaba' instead of 'estuve', since it is an incomplete action that is interrupted by another action.

Me invitó a ayudarle. I think this is fairly self-explanitory. Let me know if it's not.

Me = me
invitó = he invited
a = to
ayudarle = help him

Dije que no. Decir is irregular in the preterit tense:

yo dije
tu dijiste
él, ella, usted dijo
nosotros dijimos
ellos, ellas, ustedes dijeron

Also, the addition of "que" makes it sound better.

[Rusty]

I was waiting to respond, knowing that David was 'on it'. He gave almost the exact corrections I would have given and explained everything very well.

By the way, your English translation says 'I was taking a walk'.
To take a walk = dar un paseo
Based on David's help, how would you conjugate dar in this instance?

[hwils66]

Thanks to both of you. This is going into my notebook, but it will take me a little while to sort it all out.

[hwils66]

Originally Posted by Rusty

I was waiting to respond, knowing that David was 'on it'. He gave almost the exact corrections I would have given and explained everything very well.

By the way, your English translation says 'I was taking a walk'.
To take a walk = dar paseo
Based on David's help, how would you conjugate dar in this instance?

Regarding dar - how I would conjugate dar in this instance. I would think it was probably the imperfect tense, daba, "act of that my or may not have stopped. Therefore, daba paseo. How close am I?

[Rusty]

daba un paseo

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by hwils66

Estuve caminando en el barrio y vi un vecino quien estuvo cortado la hierba. Me invitó se ayandar, pero desí "no" y continué mi camenata.

I was taking a walk in the neighborhood and saw a neighbor who was mowing the lawn. He invited me to help, but I said "no" and continued my walk.

Other that being unneighborly, how many mistakes have I made?

Howard

I will correct to you, I hope you don't mind.

Estuve caminando por el barrio y observe un vecino que estaba cortando el cesped, el me invito a desayunar, pero decidi que no queria desayunar ni pasar con el, entonces continue mi caminata en todo el barrio, y asi termine mi dia.

Disculpa por los acentos pero tengo el teclado en Ingles.

[Jessica]

good job some errors but otherwise good job. better than me

[hwils66]

Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo

I will correct to you, I hope you don't mind.

Estuve caminando por el barrio y observe un vecino que estaba cortando el cesped, el me invito a desayunar, pero decidi que no queria desayunar ni pasar con el, entonces continue mi caminata en todo el barrio, y asi termine mi dia.
Disculpa por los acentos pero tengo el teclado en Ingles.

Thank for your reply to my post.
First "I will correct to you" should be "I will (or would like to) correct you." There is no "to" in it. And I certainly don't mind. I appreciate it.
I have interpreted your reply as follows:
"I was walking around the neighborhood and (observe?) a neighbor that was mowing the lawn (or grass), he invited me to have breakfast, but I decided I did not wish to have breakfast with him, then I continued over the rest of the neighborhood, and that ended my day.
"Excuse there being no accents but I have an English keyboard."

Am I close?

[Tomisimo]

Yes, you've understood correctly. Observar means to observe or to see. observé = I saw.

[Planet hopper]

Sorry again,

Here in sp observar is to look at sth carefully, to think sth over.

Or to watch as an investigator does,

Or to stare at something happening, as in a lab.

Sounds unnatural, observar with the idea of seeing someone by chance, as you walk. You could say:

Observe que el vecino cortaba el cesped todos los lunes.

You can't use observar with tv or movies.

Sorry, I am always correcting, you guys are gonna hate me...just kidding

[Tomisimo]

It's fine, we appreciate your corrections Planet Hopper.