About "tener que" in the past in Spanish
I wonder whether I should use "tuvo que" or "tenía que" in these sentences:
1. Because it was an emergency, he had to act immediately. (And he did act like that.)
Porque era(fue??) una emergencia, él <tuve/tenía> que actuar inmediatamente. (Él sí actuó así.)
2. In that decade, people had to go across the river by zip line.
En esa década, la gente <tuvo/tenía> que cruzar el río por tirolesa.
¡Gracias!
Search from various English teachers...
Answers · 7
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When you have a specific time you need use= él tuvo que, but when that is a description you need to write =él tenía que
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actually both work
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It's about time, the first one It's happening in this time (present)
The escondido one It's talking about past.
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HI!!
It is a little bit difficult to choose one way to say it because you are saying your sentences in English and you don´t provide a lot of information about the conversation and the context of the dialogue. With the information you provide I could say that in the first one you must use "Él tuvo que" and in the second one "La gente tenía que".
chao!! :D
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