Subimos a la torre porque mi hija quería hacer fotos del río.

In this sentence, subimos is most naturally understood as the preterite: we went up or we climbed up.

The form subimos can actually mean either:

• we go up / are going up — present
• we went up — preterite

Context tells you which one is meant. Here, because the sentence gives a completed reason in the past — porque mi hija quería... — the past reading is the natural one.

Also, Spanish often uses subir for go up, climb up, or go up to somewhere higher.

Spanish usually drops subject pronouns when they are not needed.

So instead of saying Nosotros subimos, Spanish normally just says Subimos. The verb ending -imos already tells you the subject is we.

You add nosotros only if you want emphasis, contrast, or clarity, for example:

• Nosotros subimos, pero ellos no.
  We went up, but they didn’t.

Because subimos expresses movement toward a destination.

• a la torre = to the tower / up to the tower
• en la torre = in the tower / at the tower

After verbs of movement, Spanish often uses a:

• ir a = to go to
• subir a = to go up to
• volver a = to return to

So Subimos a la torre means they moved up to the tower. If they were already there, you would use something like estábamos en la torre.

Porque as one word means because.

• Subimos a la torre porque... = We went up to the tower because...

Por qué as two words is used in questions, meaning why:

• ¿Por qué subimos a la torre?
  Why did we go up to the tower?

So:

• porque = because
• por qué = why

This is a very common spelling point for learners.

Quería is the imperfect, and quiso is the preterite.

Here, quería is used because it describes a background desire or ongoing state in the past: the daughter wanted to take photos, and that desire explains why they went up the tower.

So the sentence presents two different kinds of past action:

• Subimos — a completed action: they went up
• quería — an ongoing or background mental state: she wanted to

If you said quiso, it would sound more like a specific, completed moment of wanting, which is less natural in this kind of explanation.

Because when the same person wants to do something, Spanish normally uses:

querer + infinitive

So:

• mi hija quería hacer fotos = my daughter wanted to take photos

No que is needed.

You use que + subjunctive when the person wanting and the person doing are different:

• Mi hija quería que subiéramos a la torre.
  My daughter wanted us to go up the tower.

In your sentence, the daughter herself wanted to take the photos, so quería hacer is the correct structure.

In Spanish, hacer fotos is a very common way to say to take photos.

Literally, hacer means to make/do, but languages do not always use the same verb combinations. English says take photos, while Spanish often says hacer fotos.

In Spain, hacer fotos sounds very natural. You may also hear other expressions in different regions, such as:

• sacar fotos
• tomar fotos

But for Spanish from Spain, hacer fotos is especially common.

Both are possible, but they do not feel exactly the same.

• hacer fotos = to take photos, in a general sense
• hacer unas fotos = to take some photos, a bit more specific

In your sentence, hacer fotos del río sounds natural because the focus is simply on the activity. Spanish often leaves out an article when speaking generally like this.

So quería hacer fotos del río means she wanted to take photos of the river, without needing to specify how many.

Because de + el contracts to del.

So:

• de el río → del río

This contraction is mandatory in normal Spanish.

The only similar contraction is:

• a + el → al

For example:

• Vamos al río.
• Hicimos fotos del río.

So fotos del río means photos of the river.

Here it means of the river or showing the river.

So hacer fotos del río means taking pictures whose subject is the river.

Spanish de can cover several relationships that English expresses in different ways, so the exact meaning depends on context. In this sentence, the intended meaning is clearly photos of the river.

They have accent marks to show the correct pronunciation.

• quería: the accent shows stress on the -rí- syllable
• río: the accent helps show that rí-o is pronounced as two syllables, not one

This is especially useful in words with vowels next to each other, where the accent can signal that they should be pronounced separately.

So:

• quería sounds like que-rí-a
• río sounds like rí-o

The accents are not optional; they are part of the correct spelling.