📖LearnModule 10 · Lesson 3 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1 + B2 mastery, and the C1 bridgeUnit 1 · Los tres pasados, en contraste
Contar un recuerdo
Module 10 of the free Spanish course (CEFR B1 + B2 mastery, and the C1 bridge), lesson 3 of 30: The memory is the friendliest B2 writing task. On this page: 10 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
cuando era pequeño
when I was small
KWAHN-doh EH-rah peh-KEH-nyoh
el recuerdo
the memory
ehl rreh-KWEHR-doh
el desván
the attic
ehl dehs-BAHN
la caja
the box
lah KAH-hah
pasar el verano
to spend the summer
pah-SAR ehl beh-RAH-noh
de igual manera
in the same way
deh ee-GWAHL mah-NEH-rah
viejo
old (m)
BYEH-hoh
conmovedor
moving
kohn-moh-beh-DOHR
la soledad
loneliness
lah soh-leh-DAHD
yo tenía ocho años
I was eight years old
yoh teh-NEE-ah OH-choh AH-nyohs
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
The memory is the friendliest B2 writing task, because the tenses do the organizing for you. Set the scene in the imperfecto, put the one thing that happened in the pretérito, and end with what it meant.
Y también · And also
Cuando era pequeño, pasábamos el verano en casa de mi abuela. Un día, encontré una caja en el desván. Desde entonces, no miro las casas viejas de igual manera. Yo tenía ocho años: tener in the imperfecto, the age you were when it happened.
Ojo · Watch out
cuando era pequeño takes the imperfecto (pequeña for a female speaker); the one thing that happened — un día, encontré — takes the pretérito. And your age at the time is tenía, never tuve.
tener, imperfecto — the table
yo tenía · tú tenías · él/ella/usted tenía · nosotros teníamos · ustedes tenían · ellos/ellas tenían
Do it now — on paper
Say all 10 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with cuando era pequeño.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out tener, imperfecto in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.