Don't worry, both mean the same, at least on the street. Use "estaba" for anyhing that happened long ago: "Yo estaba en mi auto ese día" (I was on my car that day) Use "estuve" for something happened just a few time ago: "Yo estuve en mi auto recién" (I was on my car recently) "Yo estuve en mi casa" "Yo estaba en mi casa"

"estaba", and "estuve", they both come from the verb "estar", that means: "to be". They are two different forms of past tense in spanish; the first one is called "preterito imperfecto", and the second one "preterito perfecto". The word "preterito" means past tense. The two words mean the same; I guess thats why spanish is a lot more complicated than english.