Breakdown of El recepcionista estuvo en la recepción a las ocho.
en
in / on / at
las
the (feminine plural)
estar
to be (location/state)
a
to
ocho
eight
el recepcionista
receptionist
la recepción
reception / front desk
Questions & Answers about El recepcionista estuvo en la recepción a las ocho.
Why is it El recepcionista if the word ends in -a?
Words ending in -ista (like recepcionista, dentista, and turista) are used for both men and women. To show that this is a male receptionist, we use the masculine article el. If it were a female receptionist, it would be la recepcionista.
Why do we use estuvo instead of fue?
I thought we use estaba for descriptions in the past. Why use estuvo here?
If you were setting the scene for another action (for example: he was at the front desk when the phone rang), you would use the imperfect tense estaba. However, using the preterite tense estuvo treats his being there as a completed, specific event. It sounds like reporting a fact: he was present at exactly eight o'clock.
How does telling time work with a las in the past tense?
It works exactly the same as in the present tense! You just use a las followed by the number to specify at a certain time. Because eight is more than one, we use the feminine plural article las which refers to the unstated word horas (hours).
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