how do you say had in the past tense

Answer 1

It will depend on whether you use the preterite or the imperfect. Check this site for both.

http://spanish.about.com/od/usingparticularverbs/a/tener.htm

Answer 2

When it comes to translation you should always give the context, or exactly how the word is used. True, it might be tuvo, tenía BUT if it's part of "had gone" or "had read" it is then the Past Perfect Tense!

Sra