I wanted to write about the encounter of this man and woman talking about stuff. An issue I keep running into is the usage of imperfect. Just how indefinite do the actions have to be? Do I have to mention the exact time frame to use preterite?
I mean, I know these people talked for maybe 10 minutes after I got there and were probably talking for a bit before I arrived. It was a public setting, therefore there would be no way that this was an on and off sort of event. Kind of like being in a waiting room in a DMV or airport. That's where I was. What if I knew exactly how long but didn't want to mention it? Anyway, the exact sentence would be:
I went to the airport this afternoon. This woman and this man were talking about stuff. They were talking about how much they love cheese. I love cheese.
Nothing happened after. It was just observations on what they were talking about. Should I use estaban hablando or estuvieron hablando? Or hablaban or hablaron?
My guess I could use either depending on how I frame it.
For example, I could also say:
I went to the airport thus afternoon. This woman and man spoke about stuff. They spoke about cheese. I love cheese.
This would probably be more completed and therefore preterite. The former uses -ing so it probably is imperfect.
I feel like I could even describe this using Haber.
I went to the airport this afternoon. This man and woman had spoken about stuff. They had spoken about cheese. I love cheese.