Breakdown of Antes las alturas me daban pavor, pero ayer no me dieron miedo.
pero
but
no
no, not
el miedo
fear
dar
to give
me
to me / me (direct object)
ayer
yesterday
la altura
the height
antes
before / earlier
el pavor
dread / terror
Questions & Answers about Antes las alturas me daban pavor, pero ayer no me dieron miedo.
Why does the sentence use the verb dar (to give) instead of a verb for feeling scared?
In Spanish, many emotional reactions are expressed with dar followed by a noun, like dar miedo (to scare / literally "to give fear") or dar pavor (to terrify / "to give terror"). It works a lot like the verb gustar: the thing causing the emotion is the subject doing the "giving," and the person feeling the emotion is the indirect object (me).
If I am the one feeling the fear, why are the verbs plural (daban, dieron)?
Why is the same verb conjugated two different ways in the past (daban and dieron)?
This sentence is a perfect example of the difference between the imperfect and preterite past tenses. Antes (before) describes a continuous, ongoing state in the past, so we use the imperfect tense (daban). Then, ayer (yesterday) pinpoints a specific, completed event, which requires the preterite tense (dieron).
Why is it las alturas? In English we just say "Heights" without "the".
When you talk about a concept or a whole category of things in a general sense—especially when it is the subject of the sentence—Spanish requires the definite article (el, la, los, or las). So, general "Heights" becomes las alturas.
Are pavor and miedo just synonyms, or is there a difference?
They both refer to fear, but they have different levels of intensity. While miedo is the standard, everyday word for "fear," pavor is much stronger and translates closer to "terror," "dread," or "sheer panic."
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