Describing Childhood Habits and Familiar Places in Spanish

Describing Childhood Habits and Familiar Places in Spanish

In this lesson, you will begin describing childhood habits and familiar places. You will use a small number of model forms such as era — was and vivía — lived without deriving the full imperfect system yet. The complete imperfect forms are taught in the next lesson.

Childhood vocabulary

• de niño — as a boy / when I was a child
• de niña — as a girl / when I was a child
• cuando era niño — when I was a child
• cuando era niña — when I was a child
• mi casa — my house / home
• mi escuela — my school
• mi barrio — my neighborhood
• el parque — the park
• mis amigos — my friends

Use era as a model for a past state

For now, learn era as a ready-made past form of ser for familiar descriptions.

• Mi barrio era tranquilo. — My neighborhood was quiet.
• Mi escuela era pequeña. — My school was small.
• Yo era muy tímido. — I was very shy.
• Yo era muy tímida. — I was very shy.

For this lesson, tranquilo / tranquila — quiet and tímido / tímida — shy are useful descriptive words.

Use vivía as a model for where you lived

• Vivía en Madrid. — I lived in Madrid.
• Vivía cerca de la escuela. — I lived near the school.
• Vivía con mi familia. — I lived with my family.

Do not try to construct the full imperfect paradigm from vivía yet.

Describe a repeated childhood habit

Use model sentences to express something that happened regularly rather than one single completed event.

• Jugaba en el parque todos los días. — I used to play in the park every day.
• Estudiaba en una escuela pequeña. — I used to study at a small school.
• Los sábados jugaba con mis amigos. — On Saturdays I used to play with my friends.

For this lesson, jugaba and estudiaba are model imperfect forms. Their formation is taught systematically in the next lesson.

Habit versus one completed event

Compare:

• De niño, jugaba en el parque todos los días. — As a child, I used to play in the park every day.
• Ayer jugué en el parque. — Yesterday I played in the park.

The first describes a past habit. The second presents one completed event.

Familiar place versus one visit

Compare:

• Vivía cerca del parque. — I lived near the park.
• El sábado fui al parque. — On Saturday I went to the park.

Vivía describes a surrounding past situation. Fui presents a completed movement event.

Talk about school

• Mi escuela era grande. — My school was large.
• Estudiaba allí todos los días. — I used to study there every day.
• Tenía muchos amigos. — I had many friends.

For this lesson, tenía — had is another model past-state form. Its imperfect formation is taught next.

Talk about home

• Mi casa era pequeña. — My house was small.
• Vivía con mis padres. — I lived with my parents.
• Jugaba en casa por la tarde. — I used to play at home in the afternoon.

For this lesson, mis padres — my parents is useful family vocabulary.

Short childhood description

Cuando era niño, vivía en un barrio pequeño. Mi escuela estaba cerca de casa. Jugaba en el parque con mis amigos y estudiaba por la tarde. — When I was a child, I lived in a small neighborhood. My school was near home. I used to play in the park with my friends and study in the afternoon.

For this lesson, estaba — was / was located is a model background form. Full imperfect conjugation follows in the next lesson.

Do not use the preterite simply because everything happened in the past

Past habits and ongoing past states are not presented in the same way as a single completed event.

Compare:

• Tenía una bicicleta. — I had a bicycle.
• Compré una bicicleta el sábado. — I bought a bicycle on Saturday.

The first describes a past possession or state. The second presents a completed purchase.

Speaking prompt

Describe one familiar childhood place using three or four model sentences.

A possible answer is:

De niña, vivía cerca de la escuela. Mi barrio era tranquilo. Jugaba con mis amigos en el parque. — As a child, I lived near the school. My neighborhood was quiet. I used to play with my friends in the park.

A practical meaning method

1. Ask whether you are describing a repeated childhood habit or surrounding state.
2. Use the model forms introduced here for that habitual or descriptive meaning.
3. If you describe one completed event, use a preterite form you already know.
4. Do not derive a complete new tense system from the model forms yet.

From Childhood Models to the Full Imperfect

You can now describe a simple childhood habit or familiar place with a limited set of model forms. The next lesson teaches the regular imperfect endings and the imperfect forms of ser, ir, and ver.