Breakdown of Tuvimos que limpiar el dojo, el cual estaba sucio.
tener
to have
estar
to be (location/state)
sucio
dirty
que
that / than
limpiar
to clean
el cual
which / who (masculine singular)
el dojo
dojo
Questions & Answers about Tuvimos que limpiar el dojo, el cual estaba sucio.
Why use el cual here instead of just que?
In Spanish, que is the most common word for 'which' or 'that'. However, in non-defining relative clauses (clauses set off by commas that add extra background information), you can use el cual to sound more formal or precise. Here, el cual matches the masculine singular noun dojo. Using que would also be perfectly grammatical and is much more common in everyday spoken Spanish.
Why is the first verb tuvimos in the preterite tense instead of the imperfect teníamos?
Using the preterite tuvimos que implies not only that there was an obligation to clean the dojo, but that the action was actually completed—we had to clean it, and we actually did. If you used the imperfect teníamos que, it would just mean 'we were supposed to clean it', leaving it completely ambiguous whether the cleaning ever took place.
Why is the second verb estaba in the imperfect tense?
The imperfect tense is used for background descriptions and ongoing states in the past. Here, estaba sucio describes the background condition of the dojo at the time we had to clean it. Because it was an existing state rather than a completed event with a clear start and end, the imperfect is the correct choice.
As a quick refresher, why use estaba instead of era for 'was dirty'?
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