"Aceptamos su oferta."

Translation: We accepted his offer.

[MarkRSpanish]

"We accept" and "we accepted" are both accepted here. How do you distinguish between the two, besides from context?

[WilsonLB]

Muy buena pregunta. Nunca lo había pensado y acabo de validarlo con diccionario en mano. Nosotros en español conjugamos el verbo (lo escribimos y lo pronunciamos igual), para el tiempo pasado y para el tiempo presente, pero solo para primera persona del plural (nosotros/nosotras = we). Saludos. We conjugate this verb in Spanish in first pluran person in the same way: Nosotros aceptamos.

[WilsonLB]

I mean, in Present and in Past. I am sorry if I didn't write correctly the idea in English. Bye.

[martinlus]

Only through context. So the person being spoken to would have to know somehow that you were talking in the past. I suppose you could add "anoche" or "esta mañana" to give it context.

[Cody451244]

wouldn't "we accepted" translate to aceptabamos?

[WilsonLB]

Siento lo extemporánea la respuesta. La respuesta a esta pregunta, es complicada gramaticalmente. En la conjugación del "Modo Indicativo" en Pretérito imperfecto es "Nosotros aceptábamos". En el mismo "Modo Indicativo" en Pretérito Perfecto Simple, es "Nosotros aceptamos", que es la traducción, que en mi concepto, se aplica a esta frase. "Nosotros aceptábamos"....requiere un complemento para transmitir la idea completa. Cuando en español decimos "Nosotros aceptamos", puede ser que está ocurriendo en este momento, o que ocurrió en el pasado. Lo siento. Es complejo. Espero haber brindado algo de claridad, y no haberlo complicado más. Saludos.

[Daniel628091]

If "we accept" is accepted, why not "we are accepting"?

[chunkylefunga]

you'd need estamos before that.

[GScottOliver]

But then, wouldn't it be Estamos aceptando su oferta?

[conor.raff]

yes, using gerund

[MartinCo]

It should be accepted, because the English present continuous is a possible translation for the Spanish present tense.
http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/100045/present-tense

[Linda_from_NJ]

In both English and Spanish, "accept/acepta" is present tense and "are accepting/está aceptando" is present progressive tense. That's beside the point.

The point is that each language takes a different view of time. Spanish has more tenses to describe past actions and is very concerned about the duration and termination of an action. English focuses less on the progressive nature of actions and focuses most on whether said action is present, past or future.

Accordingly–and this is my subjective opinion–Spanish demands more precision when choosing tenses, while English lets people switch back and forth between tenses more. I believe the constraints of subjunctive mood have something to do with this. I would be interested to hear what native Spanish speakers have to say.

[RobertoElCuarto]

The speaker seems to say "ofertá" instead of "oferta". How much latitude does Spanish give for relocated emphasis such as this?

[Gustafsson3]

How do you know if its his offer or her offer? Wheres the gender specific here?

[rererererecycle]

tenemos consideracion? (lo siento, chiste de abogado)

[Dani630352]

"su" can distinguish between your or their

[WilsonLB]

Hi Dani. No, you can't. Ella compró un carro nuevo/Su carro es potente. Él compró un carro nuevo/Su carro es hermoso. Usted compró un carro/Su carro es rojo. Ellos compraron un carro/Su carro es nuevo. In all previous cases, you must use "su". It is different with: Yo compré un carro/Mi carro es usado. Nosotros compramos un carro/Nuestro carro es amplio. Saludos.

[cKf1r]

He sounds so a angry in the recording.

[ramapfreedom]

we are accepting your offer...There is no way to determine if it's: we accepted/we accept/ we are accepting... his/her/your offer...take your pick, Duo...