una variedad de (las) tiendas.

Question

El año pasado, no me gusté mi cuidad porque no hube una variedad de (las) tiendas. Last year I did not like my town becuase there was not a variety of shops. Does this sentecnes need the article las ?

Your posts are interesting. - --Mariana--, Mar 18, 2012

Thank You :) - sinthu, Mar 18, 2012

Answer 1

No, you don't need it. I would say: "El año pasado no me gustaba mi ciudad porque no había variedad de tiendas".

Thank you for your participation! - 002262dd, Mar 18, 2012

De nada, Don. Gracias a ti por tu comentario :) - Cordobesa, Mar 18, 2012

Perfect, of course. - --Mariana--, Mar 18, 2012

Why the choise of gustaba? I would like to understand. Why not gusto? - kdrinning, Mar 18, 2012

Because the subject is "mi ciudad", 3rd person and singular: "Mi ciudad me gustaba" (me = a mí, indirect object). - Cordobesa, Mar 18, 2012

Or was you refering to "gustó" (with accent)? In that case, Mariana's explanation is perfect :) - Cordobesa, Mar 18, 2012

Answer 2

Why the choise of gustaba? I would like to understand. Why not gusto?

Maybe Cordobesa will come back and explain, but actually, I think that you could use either here depending on what your circumstances were at the time.

If you went downtown once, looked around, and said to yourself, "Hmph...I don't like my town because it does't have....," then you'd say, "El año pasado no me gustó mi pueblo porque no hubo..." (both preterit, both happened at that moment and ended at that moment).

If you went downtown a few times as a habit or whatever, you could say, "El año pasado no me gustaba mi pueblo porque no había...... (both verbs imperfect because it was a general feeling overall, all the time, that you had that opinion of the town).

Thanks, Mariana :) We use "gustó" with "había": "No me gustó la tienda porque no había ropa bonita" :) - Cordobesa, Mar 18, 2012