# La primera versión fue escrita cuando yo tenía doce años...



## Michael Zwingli

_La primera versión fue escrita cuando yo tenía doce años_
This is from the aforementioned _Prologo_. I'm having trouble with this initial phrase of a longer sentence. Is _fue_ here a conjugative of _ser_ or of _ir_? Certainly, the author is not saying that the first version was written "when I was twelve years old"!

_Moderator's note
Edited to include the phrase of the title. 
Bevj_


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## Circunflejo

Michael Zwingli said:


> Certainly, the author is not saying that the first version was written "when I was twelve years old"!


Why not? That's what the author is saying unless you had some extra context to prove otherwise.


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## Cholo234

Michael Zwingli said:


> Is _fue_ here a conjugative of _ser_ or of _ir_?


_Fue_ can be an _inflection_ for both _ir _and _ser_.  The context tells me that _fue_, in your example, is translated by the English _was_.


Michael Zwingli said:


> Certainly, the author is not saying that the first version was written "when I was twelve years old"!


Well, I'm sure you have you reasons for saying this, but I'm not sure what they are.
.


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## Bevj

Michael Zwingli said:


> This is from the aforementioned _Prologo_. I'm having trouble with this initial phrase of a longer sentence. Is _fue_ here a conjugative of _ser_ or of _ir_? Certainly, the author is not saying that the first version was written "when I was twelve years old"!


Which '_aforementioned Prologo_'?
Please give us the complete original sentence.  I'm afraid that the phrase in your title doesn't make sense to me, and the phrase which is the subject of your thread should also appear in the first post.
Thank you.


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## Michael Zwingli

Circunflejo said:


> Why not?





Cholo234 said:


> ...I'm sure you have you reasons for saying this, but I'm not sure what they are.


It just seems incredible to me that a twelve year old Taylor Caldwell (the author in question) would have an initial draught of a biographical novel about St. Luke completed at the age of twelve years, which is in the sixth grade (form) of school. Though she wrote an essay on Dickens at age six (!), and the draught of one novel "The Romance of Atlantis" at age twelve (certainly not of the same caliber as the instant novel about St. Luke), from what I have briefly read about her, she was not a child prodigy, a polymath, or a MENSA member...


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## Michael Zwingli

Bevj said:


> Which '_aforementioned Prologo_'?


I mentioned it in a previous thread/question of earlier today...a couple of hours ago.


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## Bevj

Thank you, but please don't assume that everyone who looks at this thread has also looked at your other(s).  Each thread needs to stand on its own.
And please clarify - is 'of' in your title an error?


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## Mister Draken

Michael Zwingli said:


> I mentioned it in a previous thread/question of earlier today...a couple of hours ago.


Well, at least add a link so I don't have to look for it. Thanks


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## Cholo234

Michael Zwingli said:


> It just seems incredible to me that a twelve year old Taylor Caldwell (the author in question) would have an initial draught of a biographical novel about St. Luke completed at the age of twelve years, which is in the sixth grade (form) of school. Though she wrote an essay on Dickens at age six (!), and the draught of one novel "The Romance of Atlantis" at age twelve (certainly not of the same caliber as the instant novel about St. Luke), from what I have briefly read about her, she was not a child prodigy, a polymath, or a MENSA member...


Thanks.  Without more context (of the passage), it's hard to comment.


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## Michael Zwingli

Bevj said:


> please clarify - is 'of' in your title


Ah, I see from the title here why you are confused. I ask these questions on my telephone, and the goddamned Artificial (un-)Intelligence of the Android operating system is forever inserting things into my text which I do not intend, and must go back and edit out of my posts (exasperated sigh)! Sorry about that. To correct, the whole bit reads: _Este libro ha estado elaborandose durante cuarenta y seis anos. La primera version fue escrita cuando yo tenia doce anos; la segunda, a Los veintidos anos de edad; la tercera, a Los veintiseis, y durante todo Este tiempo nunca deje de trabajar en la obra._


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## Agró

*Fue *escrita: *was *_written_
(Passive Voice)


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## Circunflejo

Michael Zwingli said:


> It just seems incredible to me that a twelve year old Taylor Caldwell (the author in question) would have an initial draught of a biographical novel about St. Luke completed at the age of twelve years


Well, I think you'll have to start to believe it.


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## Michael Zwingli

Agró said:


> *Fue *escrita: *was *_written_


That's what I thought, but if so, Ms. Caldwell's claim stretches my credulity, which is why I questioned what I was reading.



Circunflejo said:


> Well, I think you'll have to start to believe it.


Perhaps...'con un grano de sal'.


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## Bevj

Michael Zwingli said:


> Ah, I see from the title here why you are confused. I ask these questions on my telephone, and the goddamned Artificial (un-)Intelligence of the Android operating system is forever inserting things into my text which I do not intend, and must go back and edit out of my posts (exasperated sigh)! Sorry about that. To correct, the whole bit reads: _Este libro ha estado elabor*á*ndose durante cuarenta y seis a*ñ*os. La primera versi*ó*n fue escrita cuando yo tenia doce a*ñ*os; la segunda, a Los veintidos a*ñ*os de edad; la tercera, a Los veintiseis, y durante todo Este tiempo nunca dej*é* de trabajar en la obra._


Thank you.  
The title has been corrected.
Please note that you can find all the necessary accents and punctuation marks by clicking on the omega symbol in the toolbar.


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## Michael Zwingli

Agró said:


> *Fue *escrita: *was *_written_


Regarding this, I have a semantic question. A "draught" or "version" of a written work is a _temporary_ thing. This being so, why would _estuvo_ (preterite of _estar)_ not be used instead of _fue_, which suggests to me a final/completed state having been reached in the past?


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## Agró

The Spanish passive voice is made with _ser_+ past participle.
*La primera versión* was completed at some point.
Then, *la segunda versión* was completed too.
Etcetera.


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## elroy

Michael Zwingli said:


> It just seems incredible to me that a twelve year old Taylor Caldwell (the author in question) would have an initial draught of a biographical novel about St. Luke completed at the age of twelve years, which is in the sixth grade (form) of school.


It was the first of what must have been at least twenty or so drafts (if the book was in the making for 46 years!), so that first version may not have been very good.


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## Michael Zwingli

Agró said:


> Then, *la segunda versión* was completed too.


..._a los veintidos de edad_ = "by age twenty-two", so that it reads "the second (draught/version) by age twenty-two" ?



elroy said:


> It was the first of what must have been at least twenty or so drafts (if the book was in the making for 46 years!), so that first version may not have been very good.


Como lo dije, "con un grano de sal'".


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## Agró

Michael Zwingli said:


> ..._a los veintidos de edad_ = "by age twenty-two", so that it reads "the second (draught/version) by age twenty-two" ?


Yes. That's what the text says.
_...la segunda, a los veintidós años de edad;..._


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## Bevj

_A los veintidos años_  in theory means _when_ he was 22, not _by the_ _time_ he reached that age, surely?


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## Michael Zwingli

Agró said:


> Yes. That's what the text says.
> _...la segunda, a los veintidós años de edad;..._


Thanks much.

I broke my arm this past weekend, and have decided, as a way to avoid becoming depressed about it, to use my time in the cast to try to learn Spanish well. I bought this Taylor Caldwell book in Spanish, and a Sp-Eng/Eng-Sp dictionary to start. Now, I need a decent grammar...perhaps a reference grammar would be best. The arm I broke is the left, and I am a natural "southpaw", but luckily I have discovered what seems to be a natural ambidexterity, as I can write passably with my right hand!


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## Michael Zwingli

Bevj said:


> _los veintidos años_ in theory means _when_ he was 22, not _by the_ _time_ he reached that age, surely?


So then: _"...the second when I was twenty-two years of age"_ ?


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## Agró

Michael Zwingli said:


> So then: _"...the second when I was twenty-two years of age"_ ?


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## Michael Zwingli

Agró said:


>


I interpreted Spanish _a_ as meaning "by" in this case. Why is it not?


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## Agró

*A* los 22 años = Cuando (yo) tenía 22 años.


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## elroy

*Fue* escrita a los 22 años. = *at* the age of 22
A los… *ya había sido* escrita. = *by*…


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## Agró

elroy said:


> *Fue* escrita a los 22 años. = *at* the age of 22
> A los… *ya había sido* escrita. = *by*…


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