Gabriel no podía meter las llaves en la cerradura anoche.Gabriel couldn't put the keys in the keyhole last night.
I thought this would have used "pudo" because is said last night so we know that outcome from last night
El Pretérito Indefinido and in El Pretérito Imperfecto.
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Julie F.Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
El Pretérito Indefinido and in El Pretérito Imperfecto.
This question relates to:Spanish lesson "Using poder in the preterite vs the imperfect in Spanish (could in past actions)"
Asked 1 week ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq
Hola Julie
This same question was answer some time ago in this thread to Rand, Johan and Ralph. We included this example with "anoche" in the example sentences in the lesson but didn't include any test-question using any time adverb that may be ambiguous. The lesson is precisely about this flexibility of using a verb in the same sentence with the preterite or the imperfect and how each tense has a different nuance; even with timeframes like "ayer", "anoche", "el verano pasado"... we could use the imperfect to highlight that action as something that was ongoing "during that specific period of time".
Saludos cordiales
Julie F. asked:View original
El Pretérito Indefinido and in El Pretérito Imperfecto.
Gabriel no podía meter las llaves en la cerradura anoche.Gabriel couldn't put the keys in the keyhole last night.
I thought this would have used "pudo" because is said last night so we know that outcome from last night
I thought this would have used "pudo" because is said last night so we know that outcome from last night
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