94 Comments
why estar here? in the present, 'the dinner is good', would be la cena es muy buena, wouldn't it? so why not la cena era muy buena?
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Google translate uses "era" here. Seems like a fundamental description and of something that will always be true. That makes me think "ser" but the rules are so complex I'm open to anything being right here. "La cena era muy buena" has 2,830,000 google results and "La cena estuvo muy buena" has 160,000 results. Close enough to still be ambiguous to me. "Era" is the Imperfect and "estuvo" is the Preterit. Though the distinction is lost on me.
Interesting discussion. I think the imperfect is more likely to be used than the preterite here because it 'sets the scene' about a continuous action in the past, although both can be used. The ser/estar distinction I don't really understand here; ser is more common but both seem to be fine.
Here, the use of estar implies that this particular dinner was very good. Ser would be used if the dinner was typically always good. The past tense implies that the dinner is completed. The imperfect, I think, would be used if the dinner was still ongoing. At least, that's my understanding.
Because in spanish ESTAR is most used than ES .... But these words are the same, For example nobody here,( In MEXICO ) Says ¨la cena era muy buena¨, It is most normal say : la cena estuvo muy buena.... PD: I live In Mexico
Maybe a native speaker will come along to help. I believe the use of estar must change the meaning. Perhaps the dinner is not good all the time :)
jfgordy. I think you're right. Look at this exemple : la niña es guapa. She probably is always guapa. La niña está guapa hoy con su vestido rojo / the girl is pretty today with her red dress, but maybe she won't be tomorrow with another dress.
Good question. I learned the use of estar would suggest that dinner was particularly good on this night.
Era may convey the meaning that it was good before, but is no longer.
- 1714
You would use ser ordinarily but the use of a estar makes it more emphatic ie that it was a really really good dinner.
"Really" ought to serve just as well as "very." No life-and-death issue though; just sayin'.
The meal was very good was my answer and it was marked wrong! What is the difference between a meal and a dinner? To me they are the same thing. Help anyone?
"Cena" is specifically an evening meal, which in English is "dinner" or "supper," or even sometimes "tea" (there's some variation in dialect about that). A breakfast, for example, is always a meal but never a dinner.
I still don't see why "meal" won't work for "cena". What am I missing? I would consider any time one sits down to eat a meal.
Perhaps an example. I consider all apples to be things, but it would be a mistake to translate "Como una manzana" as "I eat a thing."
Basically peggy, "meal" is too generic. Breakfast, dinner, tea, lunch, supper: they are all meals. In this example, it is specifically talking about "dinner" (the main meal of the day).
Fui means "i went or i was" like "yo fui al parque- i went to the park" ir " yo fui muy feliz - i was very happy" and estuvo means that something or someone was something " el estuvo en la luna - he was in the moon" in this case estuvo was correct because it says that the dinner was good. Hope it helped.
Why can't I say 'nice' instead of 'good'? That's acceptable in English, thus should be for the translation.
Estuvo is preterite tense; estaba is imperfect. The former is for (past) actions with a definite beginning and end.
One trick that I learned in Spanish class in high school was, "If it's how you feel or where you are, always you the verb estar." The person speaking felt that the dinner was good, so maybe that's why it's estar instead of ser.
I say 'tea' instead of 'dinner' in real life, and 'dinner' instead of 'lunch'. This is really annoying because I keep getting this question wrong because Duolingo doesn't accept 'tea' as an answer. But to complicate things further, there's another definition of tea which is the hot drink, so then people who don't say tea as dinner in real life will get confused. Can we PLEASE have a setting on Duolingo to whether we are American/English?
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The problem is duolingo's staff probably does not know much about British English. They have said they will accept British English though. You have to file a report and tell them in every case it is not accepted.
palaash- Normally, in many cases, when there is an accent at the preterito perfecto simple, it's because you have the same word in an other tense. EX :yo olvido, present tense. él olvidó, past tense. yo termino, present, él terminó, past. The accent makes the difference.
Why wouldn't it be fue instead of estuvo? I haven't even studied era yet, so I'm not sure why it could be that.
why is it preferable to say "La cena estuvo muy buena" instead of "La cena fue muy buena"? curious!
Best as I can dig up, "está bien/está buena" is simply the idiomatic phrase for food that tastes good. That is, the choice of estuvo here is not particularly related to the usual rules for ser vs. estar.
This could be a really dumb question... but where did the 'uvo' part of estuvo come from???? Are we not conjugating in the past tense?
We are indeed, but "estar" has a highly irregular conjugation. If it were a regular -ar verb the third person preterite would be "estó," but it's not.
what this sux i said the dinner was great and i got it wrong the correct answer was "the dinner was very good" :(
The dinner was really good vs the dinner wad very good. Why is really incorrect
It shouldn't be. "Really" is often used as an intensifier in English, equivalent to "very." You should report it.
- 1040
I put "the dinner was great" and they did not accept it. Yet the dictionary hints say that "muy buena" means "great." Which is wrong, the dictionary hints or should my answer have been accepted?
Both English and Spanish treat "very good" / "muy buena" and "great" / "grande" as meaning the same thing in their nature but meaning importantly different things in degree.
I would say the dictionary hint in this case was not muy buena.
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You can check out this page for the regular and irregular conjugation of verbs in the preterite tense, including that of estar: http://www.fluentu.com/spanish/blog/spanish-preterite-and-imperfect/
- 737
The subject is “la cena”, not the person speaking. The person is saying the dinner was very good, not calling himself very good.
Ay Google translate is bad. My friends use it on me and they don't make sense. Lol. :)
Why is it sometimes recommended that buena be translated "nice" and then it's marked wrong in some exercises?
My Spanish teacher taught me one could use "estar" when referring to food to convey that it tasted good. So I answered "The dinner tasted good." Should this have been accepted?
it says to put the dinner is great and so i put that down and i get it wrong
I would consider "great" to be even stronger praise than "very good," but it's kind of splitting hairs at that point.
yea but if you say great or very good it kinda means the same at least in my opinion it does
- 737
"Estaba" is imperfect tense, which describes an ongoing action in the past.
The dinner, i.e. "la cena" was a one-time event that is over, a completed action which you are describing, so you must use a perfect tense, i.e., the preterite tense.
If you regularly have dinners cooked by the same people at the same restaurant or family home repeatedly, perhaps you could use the imperfect & say "Las cenas estaban muy buenas", the dinners were very good, it's a repeated action in the past, and also leaves open the implication that you will continue to go enjoy those ongoing dinners, as opposed to commenting about one specific past dinner you sat down, ate & finished, it's done, which requires perfect tense.
i really did not understand it but i said the diner was very good and it was wrong i think it is a problem (sorry i do not speak much english but someone is teach me)
so, i said "The dinner was great!!" why does that not count?? Great is another translation to "muy buena"
Anyone notice if you put "great" it is counted wrong even though the dictionary hints on hover say great?
Does anyone read the existing commenrs before they repost questions that have been answered multiple times? These notes would be a lot more useful if each issue was only addressed once.
I came here to double-check on the same point, since I am sure that a couple of hours ago DL wanted me to translate ''La cena fue muy buena''. It seems from the comments above that the basic answer is that both are acceptable. Two comments suggest you use ''estar'' when the meal is particularly good. Best person to ask would be a Spanish waiter !
