Flu

[Jellybaby]

¿Cómo se dice..?

"When we were in England my sister had the flu." (during a 2 week holiday)
"Cuando estuvimos en Inglaterra mi hermana tuvo gripe o Cuando estabámos en Inglaterra mi hermana tenía gripe o Cuando estuvimos en Inglaterra mi hermana tenía gripe."


"The whole time we were in England my sister had the flu."
"Durante todo nuestro tiempo en Inglaterra mi hermana tenía gripe."

[Rusty]

If you're talking about (going on about, reminiscing) the two-week holiday, use the imperfect tense (in both clauses).

[Capn Spanish]

You put the accent in the wrong place in "estábamos". :)

I would say either:

Cuando estábamos en Inglaterra mi hermana tenía gripe

OR

Cuando estábamos en Inglaterra mi hermana tuvo gripe


In both cases, "estábamos" is correct because you're setting the stage--providing background information.

As for the second clause, "tenía" and "tuvo" are both valid options. "Tenía" makes it sound more like background information for a story you're telling whereas "tuvo" makes it sound more like one of the events that happened. I don't think I'm explaining the difference very well but neither option is wrong.