tuvimos vs tenía

Question

Could you please explain it to me: why we use "pretérito imperfecto" form of "Tener " in the first sentence and "pretérito indefenido" in the second:

1-no lo he visto tenía que estudiar 2-El problema más grande era que sólo podíamos quedarnos 3 días en esa habitación y después tuvimos que buscar otro hotel

actually I don´t get the second one :(

Hello, welcome to the forum! - rac1, Dec 11, 2012

Thanks rac1 - reihane, Dec 11, 2012

Answer 1

The preterite i.e. "tuvimos" is use for past actions completed in the past. So the third sentence translates something like "...days in that room and later we had to find another hotel, (and they did find it... completed past action)

The imperfect " tenía" is use for past action not yet perfected (completed). So the first sentence translates something like "I have not seen it, I must (continue) study,

In terms of the third sentence "The very big problem was that we were (continuing) able to remain alone.

Hope this helps