Tomar or tener???

Question

When you are trying to say 'I used to take dance lessons' - do you say

cuando era pequeña solía tener clases de baile

or cuando era pequeña solía tomar clases de baile. ??

Thanks

Tener is to have and tomar is to take. I think they mean the same as in English in your Spanish statement. "I used to have..." and " I used to take..." Wait for more answers on this. - Jubilado, Nov 22, 2014

ok so I could use either ?? - Emax98, Nov 22, 2014

Follow Mariposa1212" advice and use tener. I forgot about asistir although it is more formal. - Jubilado, Nov 22, 2014

Mr. J. see my answer on this. - Daniela2041, Nov 23, 2014

Answer 1

The correct verb to use is tener. However, if you're speaking with Spanish speaking folks that are living in the US (and sometimes Mexico) many of them will also say tomar because they are borrowing from english. So in terms of what people will understand, you can use both, but tener is grammatically correct. Usually, in order to avoid any confusion, I take the safe route and use asistir which means to attend. It's probably a little more formal than I mean to sound sometimes, but it works nonetheless.

If you vote for the one who posted, she(?) will see your answer faster perhaps. Thanks for this clarification. - Jubilado, Nov 22, 2014

thank you this is very helpful - Emax98, Nov 22, 2014

Answer 2

Here is a few references from Word reference for tomar una clase.

tomar una clase - word reference

tomar clases - word reference

Tomar clases por internet - Beehive

Gracias, chica, me encanta la nueva foto. Thanks for the back up. But I think the Panorama reference sorta nails it as well. - Daniela2041, Nov 23, 2014

Muchas gracias, Dani. Estoy tocando mi árcomonica para mi gran sobrino. :) - sanlee, Nov 23, 2014

No tengo ese libro así que no puedo ver esta referencia y esto es la razón iincluí estos enlaces - sanlee, Nov 23, 2014

I checked out the first two references, the top one had some good answers-using verbs like "cursar" The second one had a few weird answers. I couldn't get the third link to work. - Daniela2041, Nov 23, 2014

Hmm, you are right about the third one. No sé por qué - sanlee, Nov 23, 2014

I will check tomorrow. Sometimes the sites go down at night for a while. This was just a online college site that had the title "Tomar clases por internet". - sanlee, Nov 23, 2014

It did finally load. It took a few minutes. - sanlee, Nov 23, 2014

Hi hermanita, would it be correct and easier to say.'Cuando yo era joven tomé clases de baile.' It seams that " used to " is superfluous and a given? - ray76, Nov 23, 2014

You've got "era" in the preterite so I would stick with tomaba, I can't give a "book" reason right now. It just sounds better. I'll research and see if I can back it up. Maybe it's being a matter of not mixing tenses while discussing one event. - Daniela2041, Nov 23, 2014

Thanks for your input, amigos :) - sanlee, Nov 25, 2014

Answer 3

"Tomar" is becomming "the" correct verb to use in this case. It's even recommended for use in our College textbook "Panorama" see page 40 of the third edition. The title of the fotonovela that is being disussed is "¿Qué clases tomas.?"

The authors of the book are always careful to present the best in Latin American Spanish.

Answer 4

Mariposa is not correct ih her/his assumption that is a "term" borrowed from English.

Answer 5

thank you both for your help