Present Mental States from a Past Viewpoint
Knowing, wanting, and believing can be framed as ongoing states or as bounded realizations. Compare sabía with supe and quería with quise through the meaning each viewpoint creates.
Learning objective
Choose past forms of mental-state verbs according to state, realization, or bounded attempt.
Mental-state verbs describe knowing, wanting, believing, or understanding. In the imperfect, sabía presents knowledge as an ongoing state; in the preterite, supe commonly marks the realisation or moment when the speaker found something out.
Con querer, quería mantiene un deseo o una intención dentro de una situación pasada. Quise puede presentar ese deseo como delimitado y, según el contexto, una decisión o un intento. No quise suele interpretarse como una negativa: no estuve dispuesto a hacerlo.
Conocer shows a related contrast. Conocía a Elena means that Elena was already known to the speaker, whereas conocí a Elena commonly means I met Elena. The English translation must follow the contextual change of state instead of using knew for both forms.
Estas interpretaciones son tendencias aspectuales, no equivalencias rígidas pegadas al verbo. Supe la respuesta al abrir el sobre enfoca el descubrimiento; Sabía la respuesta, pero guardé silencio presenta el conocimiento ya vigente antes de la decisión posterior.
Examples
Sabía que había un problema, pero no conocía la causa.
I knew there was a problem, but I did not know the cause.
Both imperfects present mental states already in force.
Supe la verdad cuando revisé el contrato.
I found out the truth when I checked the contract.
Found out naturally conveys the bounded realisation expressed by supe.
Quería llamar a Pablo, pero no tenía su número.
I wanted to call Pablo, but I did not have his number.
The imperfect presents an active intention blocked by a circumstance.
Quise abrir la puerta, pero la llave no giró.
I tried to open the door, but the key would not turn.
The context supports a bounded attempt, so tried is more natural than a literal wanted.
Common mistake
- Instead of
- Conocí a Marta desde hacía diez años.
- Try
- Conocía a Marta desde hacía diez años.
The duration describes an existing relationship, so conocía presents the state of knowing Marta. Conocí would normally locate the meeting or entry into that relationship and would fit a point such as La conocí en 2016.
Practice
Try it yourself
Complete a short witness dialogue with sabía, supe, quería, quise, conocía, and conocí. Use each once, and make the surrounding clauses reveal an ongoing state, a discovery, an intention, an attempted action, an existing acquaintance, and a first meeting.