owned

Question

Please help me to translate the word ownded as used in:
Before the Trueba family "owned" the farm.

Antes, la familia Trueba ___|_ de la granja

Answer 1

"Antes, la familia Trueba poseía la granga" is correct gramatically. However, it would not sound natural to me. The verb "poseer" is ussually used in official documentation, legal documents, etc. (at least in Argentina), but is not common in the every day talking.
I'd rather use "la familia Trueba era dueña de la granja" or " la familia Trueba era propietaria de la granja". Sounds much natural to me.

Answer 2

I'm no expert but I think the verb you want is poseer in the past imperfect tense. ie-poseía. I´m not sure if you need the "de" after it though.

Answer 3

i beleve it is "Antes, la familia Trueba habia poseso la granja."
"The Trueba family owned the farm."

Answer 4

HI Melissa: poseer, (double click for the meaning), put it into the conjugator, you will get the past tense.

here you need: poseía

Answer 5

I have just seen loctite's answer, true, the de is not required. if the snetence is given like this:

era dueña de la granja

Answer 6

Antes, la familia Trueba poseía la granja.

Antes, la familia Trueba tenía posesión de la granja.

Answer 7

Melissa, I just want to point out that your Spanish and English phrases mean different things because of the comma. The English means "Antes de que la familia Trueba...," which means "at a time prior to the time when the family...," but your Spanish means "Previously, the Trueba family..." Which version is the intended one? The meaning of the English would change if you added a comma after "before" as you did in the Spanish.

In addition to what others have said about "owned," depending on the greater context, you might also be able to use the verb comprar. The meaning would be "Before the Trueba family purchased the farm...," which might be what you mean (we can't say because you don't give any more context).