Tuve vs Tenía
In Scotland, I had a cinema card.
would this be...
a) En escocia, tuve una tarjeta de cine
or
b) En escocia, tenía una tarjeta de cine
I think it is (a) because I had a card for a fixed amount of time, and I no longer have the card.
Am I correct?!
Muchas gracias!
Search from various English teachers...
Answers · 4
3
This one is questionable but I would lean towards tenía because you had it and used it over a period of time, rather than just a a single time. Usually imperfecto refers to things that we did, had, or were for a period of time and I think this would qualify. But I am waiting to see what other responses are as well. ;)
2
To some extent there is a degree of flexibility in the use of the simple past and the imperfect. That's not always apparent in the textbooks. It depends on the sense you want to convey, if what you want to say is more along the lines of 'In Scotland I used to have...' with a non-defined end point it would be 'tenía' and to be honest I'd probably lean more towards the imperfect in this case. If you want to convey that your time in Scotland is finished, which is also possible you could use 'tuve.' I'd like to hear what a native speaker has to say but my instinct would be to favour the imperfect in this case.
0
Podrías utilizar : "tuve" para acciones ( tuve que caminar hasta la estación)
"tenía" para hábitos (tenía la costumbre de ir al cine) , para describir (tenía que decirlo )
Still haven’t found your answers?
Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!
Start Learning Today
