Flu

Flu
 

¿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."

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

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.