why "tuvimos que" in this particular example?

Question

Por fin, llegamos al hotel, cuando entramos tuvimos que esperar porque la recepcionista no estaba.

Why is it "tuvimos que" instead of "teníamos que"?

Thanks

Answer 1

Hello Ben,

Welcome to the SpanishDict forum

You asked:

Por fin, llegamos al hotel, cuando entramos tuvimos que esperar porque la recepcionista no estaba. Why is it "tuvimos que" instead of "teníamos que"? Thanks

Tuvimos is the preterite form or the simple past which is used when an action has been completed. The que part which follows just means that we had to do something, the specific nature of the action depends on which verb follows the first conjugated verb, in this case esperar.!The verb form that follows will always be in the infinitive!

At last we arrived at the hotel. When we entered we had to wait because the receptionist was not there.

The imperfect would only used if you were referring to an action that had not yet been completed. ...ie: an action that was still ongoing!

eg: We used to have to wait for a long time to speak to the receptionist in our hotel because she was usually busy talking to somebody else!

¡Teníamos que esperar mucho tiempo para hablar con la receptionista en nuestro hotel porque normalmente estaba ocupada hablando con otra persona!

I hope this helps

Corrijan mi español si es necesario, por favor