Use of ser in past tense to indicate ownership

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Use of ser in past tense to indicate ownership

The example in this lesson uses the imperfective. Are there also circumstances in which the pretérito would be appropriate to talk about ownership?


Asked 4 years ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hola A

It is very unusual to see sentences using "fue de...". I imagine this is because when someone owns something it is not for a specific time, and if this is actually the case we would still "era de", because we see it more as a "used to be" (something that happened for a continuous time) which is expressed with the imperfect. 

Saludos

Inma

Daria D.B1Kwiziq community member

¿Por qué entonces se usa "fue" en este ejemplo en el test?

"La idea fue de mi amiga Sara."

InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hola Daria

In this sentence using "idea" the verb in the preterite makes more sense as an "idea" is something that is quite "sudden" so you can sense that it was more "momentary" (short lived thing). 

Saludos

A G. asked:

Use of ser in past tense to indicate ownership

The example in this lesson uses the imperfective. Are there also circumstances in which the pretérito would be appropriate to talk about ownership?


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