Re: TRANS: a child's exercise

FFlores wrote:
> What do you mean by 'past definite'? I'll try to guess...
> Spanish has two pasts, _pret=E9rito indefinido_ and _pret=E9rito imperf=
ecto_.
> I guess your 'past definite' is the _indefinido_, in spite of the name:
>=20
>         pret. indefinido: _fuimos de viaje_ 'we went on a trip'
>         pret. imperfecto: _=EDbamos de viaje_ 'we were (going) on a tri=
p'

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what he meant, also known as the preterite.

> In Spanish at least, using
> _=EDbamos de viaje_ for the completed action instead of _fuimos de
> viaje_ would be very strange even for a child.
I think that the other past he meant was present perfect, which in some
romance langs (like French), has replaced the preterite in speach, as if
in Spanish you were to say "Hemos ido de viaje" rather than "fuimos de
viaje"

--=20
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