"Haya tenido" or "usted tuviera"

Question

Hola,

I am sending a semi professional email to a colleague in a Spanish speaking country, and I would like to start of the email with "I hope you had a good Christmas and new years"...

My first instinct was to use "Espero que tuviera una buena Navidad y año nuevo"... and the translator agreed.

I looked into other questions on the website regarding the "I hope that you had..." beginning and it seems that 'espero que haya tenido' was used as well and I was wondering which form would be correct in this context.

Thank you

(It is purposely in the Usted form)

Welcome to the forum , we want to help you so fill out your profile If you have a problem PM a mod Bienvenido al foro. Queremos ayudarle, entonces hay que llenar su perfil. Si hay un problema, envíe un mensaje personal (PM) - ray76, Jan 14, 2016

Thank you for filling out your profile , that is worth a vote from me mate. - ray76, Jan 14, 2016

Apparently between your initial post and my seeing it, you filled out your profile. Ray, I and a whole host of members thank you! - Jubilado, Jan 14, 2016

Sure no problem, I didn't know anyone considered it important. - aweinhardt, Jan 14, 2016

If you read some new posts you'll see it is important indeed. - Jubilado, Jan 14, 2016

Answer 1

Espero is in the present tense. Usually an imperfect subjunctive doesn't go with a present indicative in the independent clause. Therefore I would use:

Espero que haya tenido (o pasado-my preference) una Feliz Navidad y un próspero año nuevo.

This is the subjunctive form of the present perfect tense.

The following is only one of many graphics illustrating my use of the present perfect.

I see, this was why I was confused previously... Because it seems like there are some conflicting views among users. I have not yet sent the email, but I am going to use the 'haya tenido' because of the examples. - aweinhardt, Jan 14, 2016

With the present tense in the independent clause you just can't use imperfect subjunctive in the subjoined clause. - Daniela2041, Jan 14, 2016

Now that I think of it, the expression "I hope that you had" is an example of the English subjunctive "had" after a hope. - Jubilado, Jan 14, 2016

I probably would say in English, "I hope you have (or you've) had a good Christmas, etc." - Daniela2041, Jan 14, 2016

Answer 2

I hope you had a nice day = espero (que) tuviera un buen día

I hope you have/had had a nice day = Espero que haya/hubiera tenido un buen día

Right?

Edit: As always context plays a role

The original poster included the following:

"Espero que tuviera una buena Navidad y año nuevo". To which I am going to shorten it to "Espero que tuviera una buena Navidad".

Espero que tuviera una buena Navidad = I hope you had a good Xmas = I hope Santa was generous or brought you what you wanted.

Espero que haya pasado una buena Navidad = I hope you had a good time on Xmas day.

Please tell me if this helps.

Apparently the first sentence is not correct. I made a fool of myself thinking it was so are you saying that it is correct. The other 2 native speakers think it is totally incorrect. Just curious, not looking for vindication. - Jubilado, Jan 14, 2016

Please read my edited entry. ;) - chileno, Jan 14, 2016

Answer 3

It seems that in general Spanish speakers use the perfect forms of verbs less than English speakers do. (I think that is correct. The rest is poppycock! Making a fool of yourself is sometimes a good didactic tool) The words haya tenido mean have had with the present perfect subjunctive of haber tenido.In brief, I would go with tuviera which is the past subjunctive of tener.

Example: "Lo habría pasado bien si tuviera con quien pasarlo". For the statement in question, I would say "Espero que haya tenido ......" - 005faa61, Jan 14, 2016

Julian beat me by a minute, but I gave the explanation. Jubi, you may have gotten the best answer, but it's still incorrect. Sorry about that. - Daniela2041, Jan 14, 2016