SCENARIO
Imagine
you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. Maybe it is
said that your brother has fallen out with you. The other person
might have heard that you have done something which upset your
broher. At some point, he/ she says to you something like: "tell
me, what have you done to your brother?".
In
Spanish, he/ she could choose to be less formal and say to you:
Dime,
¿qué le hiciste a tu hermano?
On the
other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say to you:
Dígame,
¿qué le hizo (usted) a su hermano?
OUR
TIP
The question is an
invitation for you to talk about something you did/ didn't do in the
past. When saying what you did/ didn't do in the past, you DO
NOT need to be concerned about the level of formality in the
other person's question. Your main concern should be about
communicating what you did/ didn't do. Perhaps you want to say that
you:
- Did something some time ago.
- Did something at a specific point in time.
- Didn't do anything.
- Didn't ever do anything.
- Didn't do something some time ago.
-
Didn't do
something at a specific point in time.
Here are some
examples of how you would say what you did/ didn't do:
- Discutimos ayer (we had an argument yesterday).
- Hablé con él hace unos días (I spoke to him a few days ago).
- No le hice* nada (I didn't do anything to him).
- Nunca le hice* nada (I never did anything to him).
- No le llamé* ayer (I didn't call him yesterday).
- No pude* hablar con él hace un par de días (I couldn't speak to him a couple of days ago).
Now you should
practice talking about the past to someone who says to you:
Dime,
¿qué le hiciste a tu hermano?
*Please
see grammar below
Grammar-The
Preterite
These are examples
of expressions using the preterite to talk about past
completed actions. Remember that in Spanish we use the preterite
in the following situations:
1. When relating an
action which is completely finished . Some examples of
expressions of this type are:
- Estuve en Manila (I was in Manila).
- ¿Fuiste a ver a tus padres? (did you go to see your parents).
- Pedro me llamó por teléfono (Pedro phoned me).
- Fuimos a Nueva York una vez (we went to New York once).
- ¿Cuando llegasteis a Barcelona? (when did you -plural arrive in Barcelona?).
-
Mis padres nos
escribieron una carta (my parents wrote
a letter to us).
2. When narrating a
sequence of completed events/ actions. Some examples of
expressions of this type are:
- Llegué, ví y vencí (I arrrived, I saw and I conquered -J. Caesar).
- Te acostaste, te levantaste y te fuiste a trabajar (you went to bed, you got up and you went to work).
- Pedro llegó, miró y se fue (Pedro arived, he had a look around and he left).
- Compramos las entradas, vimos la película y nos fuimos a casa (we bought the tickets, watched the film and went home).
- Cuando vísteis que hora era, ¿por qué no llamásteis (when you-plural saw the time, why didn't you call?).
-
Mis amigos no
te vieron y se fueron (my
friends didn't see you and left).
3. When talking
about completed actions in a clearly defined period of time in
the past. Some examples of expressions of this type are:
- Del lunes al jueves estuve en Los Ángeles (from Monday and Thursday I was in LA).
- ¿Estuviste en Madrid en 1991? (were you in Madrid in 1991) .
- Mi tío te vió la semana pasada (my uncle saw you last week).
- En 1991 estuvimos en Barcelona (in 1991 we were in Barcelona).
- El año pasado trabajásteis todo el año (last year, you -plural worked all year round).
-
Mis
amigos estuvieron en España en 1995
(my friends were in Spain in 1995).
Now
you should practise using the preterite with some examples of your
own.
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1 comment:
¡Hice muchas cosas a mi hermano pero solo cuando fuesemos niños!
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