Ha tenido que

Question

Jordi es una persona muy putual.Hoy ha salido un poco antes de la oficina porque ha tenido que pasar por el banco para slucionar algún problema antes de volver a casa.Sin embargo, no ha podido resolver nada porque, debido al tráfico, ha tardado más que nunca en el trayecto y ha llegado tarde.

My question is ,why it´s Ha tenido que here?? Why not tenía que? What does ha tenido que mean here??

And why it´s no ha podido ,why not no podía? What does no ha podido mean here?

Answer 1

ha tenido que pasar ........... He has had to go by ......

The author has chosen present perfect rather than imperfect past because he wants to connect a past action to the present, showing that the action is not in the distant past but just now and that the action is possibly not yet complete.

The same with "no ha podido" ..... "He has not been able .........."

Also "putual" - which would make a very interesting play on words - should be "puntual." And "slucionar" should be "solucionar."

Muchas gracias. - zhmelissa, Jun 11, 2013