One of the most confusing things for many Spanish students is differentiating the use of the past tenses (indefinite and imperfect), the problem begins when we find words like «era, fui, fue, estuve and estaba» and we don’t know what they refer to or which one we should use.
However, it is possible to master these differences if we take some time to analyze each conjugation. In this article you will see the differences, examples of their uses in a conversation, and a grammar exercise to practice with.
Conversation with fui, fue, estuve, estaba y era
- Oye, ¿por qué no fuiste al encuentro de egresados?
- No fui porque estuve muy ocupado todo el día.
- Pero todo el mundo fue, hasta tu novia de cuando estabas en décimo.
- ¿Ah sí? ¿Cómo está ahora?
- Hablé un rato con ella y vive muy bien ahora. Me contó que estuvo dos meses en Europa.
- ¿En serio? Yo me acuerdo que cuando estábamos saliendo, estaba loca por viajar a Italia.
- Sí, y también fue a Alemania. Me dijo que Berlín fue su lugar favorito de Europa.
- Me alegra. ¿Y quién más fue a la reunión?
- También fue Juan, pero estuvo borracho desde el comienzo.
- ¡Ay Dios! Juan no ha cambiado nada, siempre fue la mala influencia de la clase.
- Más o menos, yo me acuerdo que también era muy amable con todos.
- Pues sí, también es cierto que siempre era el que ayudaba a los profes.
- Y también era muy bueno hablando con las chicas.
- Sí, le tenía tanta envidia. Yo era el que siempre se quedaba en blanco cuando quería hablar con alguna.
- ¡Pobrecito! te ponías tan nervioso que empezabas a sudar.
Translation
- Hey, why didn’t you go to the class reunion?
- I didn’t go because I was pretty busy all day.
- But everyone went, even your girlfriend from tenth grade.
- Really? How’s she now?
- I talked to her for a while and she’s a very good life now. She told me she was in Europe for two months.
- Seriously? I remember when we were dating, she was crazy about traveling to Italy.
- Yeah, and she also went to Germany. She told me that Berlin was her favorite place in Europe.
- So glad! And who else went to the reunion?
- Juan went as well, but he was drunk from the very beginning.
- Oh boy! Juan hasn’t changed at all, he was always the bad influence in the class.
- Kind of, I remember he was also very kind to everyone.
- Well… yeah, it’s true he was always the one who helped the teachers.
- And he was very good at talking to girls too.
- Yeah, I was so jealous, I was the one who always went black when wanting to talk to any girl.
- Poor thing! you would get so nervous that you would start sweating.
Use of fui
«Fui» is the past tense of «to be» and «to go» in the indefinite preterite with the pronoun «yo». So, this is: I went or I was. So, we could say phrases like: «No fui a trabajar ayer/I didn’t go to work yesterday».
If we also want to use it as the indefinite of «to be», a good example could be: «Fui una enfermea por un año/ I was a nurse for a year».
It is important to remember that we use «ser» in Spanish for characteristics of nationality, personality, profession and to talk about dates.
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Use of fue
«Fue» is the indefinite for he, she, it, you (formal) from the verb «to be» and «to go». This conjugation can seem kind of confusing because both verbs share the same conjugation.
So if for example you want to mention a place that someone visited or if you want to say that your brother’s birthday happened on Wednesday, you will have to use «fue/it was».
«Marcela fue a una panadería ayer/ Marcela went to a bakery yesterday». Here I’m using the past tense of the verb «to go» for her.
«El cumpleaños de mi hermano fue el miércoles: My brother’s birthday was on Wednesday». In this example I use the verb «to be». Cumpleaños is masculine, so I must use «fue», and «ser» is used to talk about the days of the week. Say, «hoy es jueves/ today is Thursday.
Use of era
We use «era» to refer to the subjets «I, he, she and you» in the imperfect past tense of the verb «estar». This past tense is generally used to talk about descriptions in the past or characteristics of someone or something that were part of the routine or were repeated several times.
Let’s say you want to mention your personality when you were 7 years old, so «era» is the word to use. Besides that, if you want to talk about your cousin or brother who had certain characteristics years ago, you will also have to use this option.
If we have the phrase: «Era muy buena en inglés en la escuela: I/he/she was very good at English at school» it might be kind of confusing cuz the meaning of the sentence will have to do with the context of the sentence.
When speaking, you can mention the person’s name to make everything clearer in case is needed. For instance: «Margarita era una jefe muy exigente; Margarita was a very demanding boss».
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Use of estuve
«Was» is the past tense of the verb «estar», for the pronoun «I». We can use it to say things like: «Estuve muy ocupado la semana pasada: I was pretty busy last week», or «Estuve donde mis abuelos durante el verano: I was at my grandparents’ house during the summer».
It’s important to remember we use «estar» to talk about emotions, as well as locations.
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Uso de estaba
«Estaba» is the conjugation for «estar» with the pronouns I, he/she and you in the imperfect tense.
Say you want to mention where you spent your vacation every summer, if you mention the place, you should use «estaba» like this: «En vacaciones siempre estaba en mi ciudad natal: I was always in my hometown for vacation».
Similarly, if you want to clarify the actions that a person was doing, you could use «estaba» as well: «Ella estaba cortando los tomates» she was cutting the tomatoes.
It’s helpful to remember that we generally use «estaba» instead of «estuve» if you don’t mention a specific time like yesterday or last week.
It’s also used to talk about the emotions or feelings you had. «Estaba muy emocionada con el proyecto: I was pretty excited with the project».
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Main differences
| Fui | Fue | Era | Estaba | Estuve |
| Pronoun: yo | Pronoun: él/ella/usted | Pronoun: él/ella/usted | Pronoun: yo/él/ella/usted | Pronoun: yo |
| Pretérito indefinido de «ser» e «ir» | Pretérito indefinido de «ser» e «ir» | Pretérito imperfecto de «ser» | Pretérito imperfecto de «estar» | Pretérito indefinido de «estar» |
| Anoche fui a un concierto. (I went to a concert last night) Fui una persona diferente durante esos años. I was a different person during those years) No fui bien recibida en esa casa. (I wasn’t welcomed in that house) No fui a su cumpleaños porque trabajé hasta tarde. (I didn’t go to his/her birthday because I worked late) | Él no fue al museo. (He didn’t go to the museum) Pati no fue quien rompió la ventana. (Pati wasn’t the one who broke the window) ¿Por qué no fue a la clase la semana pasada? (Why didn’t he/she/you go last week) Fue una experiencia increíble. (It was an incredible experience) | Mi profesor de portugués era muy divertido. (My portuguese teacher was pretty fun) No era muy bueno en matemáticas. (I/you/he/she/wasn’t very good at math) Cuando era pequeña, me gustaba estudiar. (When I was a child, I didn’t like to study. | ¿Dónde estaba ayer? Where were you/he/she yesterday) El miércoles estaba muy ocupado haciendo tareas. (On Wednesday I/you/he/she was pretty busy doing homework) Fabiola no estaba bailando en la fiesta porque le dolía el pie. (Fabiola wasn’t dancing cuz her foot hurt) Francisco estaba en la oficina cuando su amiga lo llamó. (Francisco was at the office when his friend called him) | No estuve en mi casa el sábado en la noche. (I wasn’t at home Saturday night) Estuve muy preocupado por ti todo el fin de semana. (I was pretty worried about you the whole weekend ) No estuve en la oficina porque no trabajé ese día. (I wasn’t at the office cause I didn’t work that day) |
Grammar exercise
Fill in the blank with the right form of «estar» and «ser». Take into account some sentences have more than one correct option. Good luck!
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