Learn Spanish (Spain): Estuve allí, pero no intenté saltar el obstáculo. - I was there, but I did not try to jump the obstacle.

Estuve is the preterite (completed past) of estar. It is a special irregular verb that changes its stem to estuv- in the preterite. We use estar rather than ser (fui) because we are talking about a physical location (allí). We use the preterite instead of the imperfect (estaba) to state the completed event of being there, rather than setting a descriptive background scene.

Why does estuve end in an unaccented -e, while intenté has an accent mark?

Intentar is a regular verb, so its preterite yo form uses the standard accented ending -é to make intenté. However, estar belongs to the irregular u-stem group. These irregular verbs share a unique set of preterite endings that never have accent marks, which is why estuve ends in a plain -e.

Why is there no word for "to" between intenté and saltar?

In English, we say "I tried to jump". But in Spanish, the verb intentar (to try) connects directly to an infinitive verb (like saltar) without needing a linking preposition like a or de in between.

How do we know the sentence means "I was there" when the word yo is missing?