Am i right in this sentence?

Question

She had a nervous breakdown. "Ella tenía una avería nervioso"

i used the imperfect conjugation....is that correct?

Answer 1

Hello, even though the verb is conjugated correctly, that´s not a Spanish expression.Try these:

If you want to convey that she had a nervous breakdown and now she is fine you say:

Ella tuvo una crisis nerviosa.

If you want to convey that she had a nervous breakdown for a long period of time as a way to describe her behaviour you say:

Ella tenía una crisis nerviosa.

Answer 2

Aviso: Beginner speaking!

I think you would used the basic past if that is the complete sentence: "Ella tuvo una avería nerviso." The idea is just to impart information about something that happened in the past.

If that is the beginning of a thought such as "She had a nervous breakdown during finals" then the imperfect would be used as you have written it. The idea is that something happened in the past while something else was happening. The imperfect could also be used if it happened all the time which could be implied in the imperfect in spanish but the english would have to be tweaked I think ("She had nervous breakdowns" maybe).

I don't know how correct una avería nerviso is so I hope someone else can comment. edit: good, someone else got to it: crisis nerviosa