Did You Not Have To Study?

SCENARIO

Imagine you are talking about things to do with a relative, a friend or a colleague.  Perhaps you are trying to make arrangements to do something together. You might be giving confusing messages about your availability. The other person wants to ask you to confirm whether or not you don't have to study.

He/ she could choose to be less formal and ask you:

¿No tenías que estudiar?

Alternatively, he/ she could choose to be a little bit more formal and say:

¿No tenía (usted) que estudiar?

 

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OUR TIP

You DO NOT need be concerned about the degree of formality in the question you are asked. Whether the other person uses the more/ less formal question is irrelevant to your choice of answer. Your answer depends only on whether you want to say that you:

• Do not have to study
• Should have to study

Here are a couple of examples which deal with those two basic possibilities:

• No, no tengo que estudiar (No, don't have to study)
• Sí, sí que tenía que estudiar (Yes, should have to study)

Now you should practice answering the question:

¿No tenías que estudiar?

This is another Free online Spanish lesson from Love-Spanish.com. We conduct lessons online on this and many other topics using the latest video conferencing facilities. Online lessons are the ideal way to improve listening and speaking skills. For more details on our lessons online and how to book them, please visit:

Love-Spanish.com/ Lessons-Online

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