and he suffered many storms during his journey.

Question

and he suffered many storms during his journey.

and he suffered many storms during his journey.

HINT: journey = travesía.

Kwizbot y sufrió muchas tormentas durante su travesía.

You y sufraba muchas tormentas a través de su travesía .

Hello,

I was wondering why the preterit is used here and not the imperfect? I would have thought that these storms occurred throughout his journey, therefore the imperfect would be used?

Thank you for your help in clarifying this and I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Wishing you the best New Year ever!

Nicole

Answer

Hola Nicole,In this sentence from the exercise:...y sufrió muchas tormentas durante su travesía. we are using El Indefinido (sufrió) to express that this is something that happened in the past within that period of time "during his journey". We see this action (going through storms) as something "completed". It had a beginning and an end. The use of the preterite here is not descriptive (like the Imperfecto, sufría). We are using the preterite to see this as something completed. We could have used the Imperfect if our aim was that of a "descriptive scene", background information,  without giving emphasis to the completion of the action. Here is a lesson on the general contrast between these two tenses.Un saludoInma