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Thread: How to say, "How much DID it cost?" in Spanish. Thanks!

 
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    Default How to say, "How much DID it cost?" in Spanish. Thanks!

    Hi! I'm having trouble with preterite and imperfect? Can you translate "How much DID it cost?" into spanish for me. Thanks!!

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    Moderator SandraT's Avatar
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    "¿Cuánto costó?"

    Hope it helps...
    Realmente, el destino del mundo depende, en primer lugar, de los estadistas y, en segundo lugar, de los intérpretes.
    Trygve Halvdan Lie

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    Default past tenses

    Quote Originally Posted by Spanishstudent
    Hi! I'm having trouble with preterite and imperfect? Can you translate "How much DID it cost?" into spanish for me. Thanks!!
    the two possibilities you have are: "¿Cuánto costó?" (pretérito imperfecto) and "¿Cuánto costaba?" (pretérito indefinido). the difference: the first one is punctual, you're speaking about a specific thing bought at a specific time (e.g., you're talking right after coming back from the shop)... the second one is like you're speaking about something bought at some point in the past (a longer time ago), inespecific, like "when I was young..." --got it?

    hope I helped!

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    Moderator SandraT's Avatar
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    Hi Laura, I think this option you are also offering

    "¿Cuánto costaba?" (pretérito indefinido)
    could be the translation for "How much it used to cost?".

    The "copretérito" in Spanish can be substituted by

    Costaba: solía costar
    costed: used to cost

    Please, correct me if I'm wrong.
    Realmente, el destino del mundo depende, en primer lugar, de los estadistas y, en segundo lugar, de los intérpretes.
    Trygve Halvdan Lie

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    Senior Member lauracipolla's Avatar
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    hi, sandra... I hope Spanishstudent doesn't read our debate! we're going to complicate him more... ()

    you're right, the "used to" would be more appropriate for "costaba" but I considered that you could have a more complete question, like "How much did it cost when you were young/in the old days/a year ago?" and in that case it would be "costaba"... as usual, the point is it would all depend on the context!

    BTW, the word "copretérito" is new to me. maybe it's a modern designation (and I studied so-so-so long ago we used to call it differently?)

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    Quote Originally Posted by lauracipolla
    BTW, the word "copretérito" is new to me. maybe it's a modern designation (and I studied so-so-so long ago we used to call it differently?)
    Hi, Laura. You´re right. The Real Academia designates that verb tense as "pretérito imperfecto", but in the 19th century, Andrés Bello suggested a new terminology which many Spanish speaking countries established as the norm. Here are both terminologies:

    R. Academia Andrés Bello
    presente presente
    pret. imperfecto copretérito
    pret. imperf. simple pretérito
    futuro futuro
    condicional pospretérito
    pret. perf. compuesto antepresente
    pret. pluscuamperfecto antecopretérito
    pretérito anterior antepretérito
    futuro perfecto antefuturo
    condicional perfecto antepospretérito

    Saludos.

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    I like "¿por cuanto salió?"
    vicente

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    Quote Originally Posted by vicente
    I like "¿por cuánto salió?"
    Vicente, dear...accents!!!

    Yes, good idea and very colloquial.

    In Spain we prefer the pretérito perfecto:

    ¿Cuánto te ha costado?

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    Senior Member mem286's Avatar
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    Hi everybody!

    Just for fun at this point, in Argentina we'd say ¿Cuánto te costó? o ¿cuánto te salió?

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    Moderator SandraT's Avatar
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    BTW, the word "copretérito" is new to me. maybe it's a modern designation (and I studied so-so-so long ago we used to call it differently?)
    I have realized in other threads that we (in our various countries) have different terminology for the tenses.
    Laura, I also studied so-so-so long ago, so don't feel bad about it.
    ¿Cuánto te costó? o ¿cuánto te salió?
    ¿Cuánto te ha costado?
    Here we also say : ¿En cuánto te salió? but don't say
    "¿por cuanto salió?"
    This should be Mexican, Vicente???
    This is the point in which we realize the diversity and richness of the language in our countries...
    Realmente, el destino del mundo depende, en primer lugar, de los estadistas y, en segundo lugar, de los intérpretes.
    Trygve Halvdan Lie

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