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As pessoas não tinham a nossa tecnologia.

As pessoas não tinham a nossa tecnologia.
People did not have our technology.
From Lesson 86:Irregular verbs in the imperfect (era, tinha)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about As pessoas não tinham a nossa tecnologia.

Why do we use the Imperfect tense form tinham here instead of the simple past (tiveram)?
The Imperfect tense (Pretérito Imperfeito) is used for descriptions, habits, and ongoing states in the past. Not having technology was a long-lasting reality for people back then, not a single event that started and finished. tinham is the 'they' form of the irregular verb ter (to have), matching As pessoas.
Why is there an a before nossa?
In European Portuguese, it is standard to use a definite article (o, a, os, as) before a possessive word. Because tecnologia is a feminine singular noun, we use the feminine singular article a right before nossa.
As pessoas is plural, but nossa is singular. Why don't they match?
Possessives always match the gender and number of the thing being owned, not the owners! The thing owned here is tecnologia, which is feminine and singular. Therefore, we use nossa, regardless of who or how many people the technology belongs to.
Could I use a gente instead of As pessoas to say 'People'?
In this context, no. While a gente literally translates to 'the people', in everyday Portuguese it is almost always used as an informal way to say 'we'. To talk about multiple individuals or people in general, you should use the plural noun As pessoas.

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