Ayer no estábamos en casa.

English Translation

We weren’t at home yesterday.

everyone, this sentence is in a specific day and time that has come and gone. It is not repeating. Why isn’t the answer ‘estuvimos?!’

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A good question to ask!

Google Translate says “estábamos”, however, DeepL says “estuvimos”.

GT doesn’t give you alternatives with sentences like DeepL does (which I love).

DeepL’s first alternative is “Ayer no estábamos en casa.”

2nd alt. “No estuvimos en casa ayer.” and 3rd alt. “No estábamos en casa ayer”

So, it seems both can be used in this example.

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From StackExchange:

Yo estuve en casa todo el día: I was at home all the day. In this sentence the speaker is stating the fact of being at home, regardless of the time interval, emphasizing the fact and not the circumstance (la circunstancia). If you said Yo estaba en casa, that would be translated as, “I was staying at home.” The emphasis is now on the circumstance, and this sentence may be used as an excuse in an interrogation to justify that you were not in a place outside home during a specific interval of time. But “Yo estuve en casa” may be used for the same purpose, but excusing yourself for a specific time and not an interval.

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But under what circumstances would one say “Ayer estaba en casa” (no more, no less)?

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