Teníais

Teníais is the segunda persona del plural del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo del verbo tener. It corresponds to “you all had” in the past and is used to describe possession or ongoing states in the past when addressing vosotros.

Use and regional variation

Teníais is characteristic of the Spanish dialect that uses the pronoun vosotros, mainly spoken in Spain. In most Latin American varieties, where ustedes is the standard second-person plural, the corresponding past tense form is teníais for vosotros is replaced in speech by tenían for ustedes, so the sense remains “you all had.” Teníais can also convey habitual or repeated past actions, especially when providing background in a narrative or situating a scene in the past.

Conjugation and formation

Teníais is formed by adding the imperfect endings to the stem ten-: ten- + íais. The accent on the í marks the imperfect tense and distinguishes it from other forms with similar spelling. In the imperfect of tener, the forms are tenía, tenías, tenía, teníamos, teníais, tenían.

Examples

- Cuando éramos niños, vosotros teníais muchos juguetes. (When we were kids, you all had many toys.)

- Antes de mudarnos, teníais una casa cerca del mar. (Before we moved, you all had a house near the sea.)

Etymology

The form derives from the verb tener, which comes from the Latin tenēre. The imperfect endings reflect a regular pattern for -er verbs in the vosotros form, with the accent marking the stressed syllable.

Notes

Teníais should not be confused with the imperfect subjunctive vosotros forms (tuvierais/tuvieseis), which appear in subordinate clauses requiring the subjunctive mood. It is predominantly used in Spain and is less common in regions that do not use vosotros.