Why preterite?

Shirley S.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Why preterite?

Ustedes no existieron para pagar impuestos.

Hi, why is preterite used here instead of the imperfect? The preterite implies that Ustedes no longer exist.

Asked 2 years ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hola Shirley

The actual sentence is a bit odd all together actually and that meaning of "existieron" is not a literal "existed", it has an extra meaning. Therefore, to avoid confusion I changed it to a completely different sentence. 

Saludos

Shirley S. asked:

Why preterite?

Ustedes no existieron para pagar impuestos.

Hi, why is preterite used here instead of the imperfect? The preterite implies that Ustedes no longer exist.

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