📖LearnModule 4 · Lesson 12 of 30Basic User · CEFR A2, completedUnit 3 · El imperfecto — the way things were
Cuando era pequeño — the way it was
Module 4 of the free Spanish course (CEFR A2, completed), lesson 12 of 30: The imperfecto owns "used to": Cuando era pequeño, tenía un gato. On this page: 7 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 yo era pequeño
when I was little (m)
KWAHN-doh yoh EH-rah peh-KEH-nyoh
cuando yo era pequeña
when I was little (f)
KWAHN-doh yoh EH-rah peh-KEH-nyah
yo tenía un gato
I had a cat
yoh teh-NEE-ah oon GAH-toh
vivíamos en Bogotá
we used to live in Bogotá
bee-BEE-ah-mohs ehn boh-goh-TAH
yo jugaba todos los días
I used to play every day
yoh hoo-GAH-bah TOH-dohs lohs DEE-ahs
hacía buen tiempo
the weather was nice
ah-SEE-ah bwehn TYEHM-poh
cuando
when (joining two parts)
KWAHN-doh
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 imperfecto owns "used to": Cuando era pequeño, tenía un gato. Vivíamos en Bogotá. Jugaba todos los días. It describes the background of your life, not one event in it.
Y también · And also
Two patterns cover every verb: -ar takes -aba (jugaba, jugabas, jugaba, jugábamos, jugaban); -er and -ir take -ía (vivía, vivías, vivía, vivíamos, vivían). Only ser, ir and ver are irregular in the whole tense.
Ojo · Watch out
The yo and él forms of the imperfecto are identical: yo jugaba, él jugaba; yo tenía, ella tenía. Add the pronoun when the sentence needs it.
vivir, imperfecto — the table
yo vivía · tú vivías · él/ella/usted vivía · nosotros vivíamos · ustedes vivían · ellos/ellas vivían
jugar, imperfecto — the table
yo jugaba · tú jugabas · él/ella/usted jugaba · nosotros jugábamos · ustedes jugaban · ellos/ellas jugaban
Do it now — on paper
Say all 7 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with cuando yo 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 vivir, imperfecto and jugar, 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.