Breakdown of Si estuviste en la boda, ¿por qué no te vi?
no
no / not
en
in / on / by (means of transport) / about (after pensar)
estar
to be (location/state)
ver
to see; to watch (TV, a film)
te
to you / yourself (reflexive) / you (direct object)
por qué
why
si
if
la boda
the wedding
Questions & Answers about Si estuviste en la boda, ¿por qué no te vi?
Why is estuviste in the indicative and not the subjunctive, since it follows si (if)?
We often associate si (if) with the past subjunctive for hypothetical situations. However, when talking about open conditions in the past—meaning the speaker accepts that the condition might actually be true—Spanish uses the indicative. Here, the speaker is acknowledging a possible reality (you were actually at the wedding), not an impossible scenario like 'if you had been at the wedding' (si hubieras estado).
Could I use the imperfect estabas instead of the preterite estuviste here?
You could use estabas, but it changes the nuance slightly. Si estuviste treats being at the wedding as a completed, closed event. Si estabas focuses on the ongoing background state of being there. Since a wedding is a specific event with a clear beginning and end, estuviste sounds very natural here.
Why does the inverted question mark (¿) appear in the middle of the sentence instead of at the very beginning?
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