Breakdown of Nous voulions réserver, mais tout était complet.
être
to be
mais
but
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
vouloir
to want
Questions & Answers about Nous voulions réserver, mais tout était complet.
Why is voulions in the imparfait rather than the passé composé (avons voulu)?
In the imparfait, voulions describes an ongoing intention or state of mind in the past (we had the desire to book). If we used the passé composé (avons voulu), it would mean we actively tried or made a specific attempt to book. Here, the imparfait sets the scene for what you intended to do before discovering it was full.
What if the sentence used the negative passé composé: Nous n'avons pas voulu réserver?
Why use complet here instead of plein for 'full'?
While plein generally means physically full (like a glass of water or a box), complet is specifically used for businesses like hotels, restaurants, trains, or theaters to mean 'fully booked' or 'no vacancies'. Saying tout était plein might sound like the building was physically crammed with objects.
Why does tout take a singular verb (était) if it refers to multiple things being full?
As a pronoun meaning 'everything', tout is always treated grammatically as a third-person singular subject. This works exactly like English, where we say 'everything was' instead of 'everything were'.