Learn Hardcore Romanian: Când eram mic, mergeam rar la spital. - When I was little, I rarely went to the hospital.

Romanian uses the imperfect tense (eram) to describe a background state or habit in the past. Being small/young is a long‑lasting state, not a single finished event.

eram mic ≈ I was little / I used to be little (ongoing state in the past)
am fost mic would sound like you are treating “being small” as one completed episode, which is unusual in this context.

So Când eram mic means When I was little (as a child) in a general, continuous way, which is exactly what you want here.

Why is mergeam used instead of am mers for “went”?

Again, this is the imperfect tense.

mergeam ≈ I used to go / I would go / I was going (repeated or habitual action in the past)
am mers ≈ I went (one completed action in the past)

In Când eram mic, mergeam rar la spital, you are talking about a habitual pattern in childhood: you rarely used to go to the hospital. That’s why mergeam is the natural choice.

Why is there no explicit eu (I) in the sentence?

Romanian is a pro‑drop language: the subject pronoun is usually omitted because the verb ending shows the person.

eram and mergeam both end in ‑am, which here indicates 1st person singular (eu).
So Când eram mic, mergeam rar la spital is clearly understood as When I was little, I rarely went to the hospital, even without eu.

You can say Când eram eu mic, mergeam rar la spital, but it’s only used for emphasis (for example, to contrast with someone else).

Why is it mic and not mică? How would a girl say this?

Mic is the masculine singular form of the adjective small / little. Adjectives agree with the gender and number of the noun (or the implied noun).

Here, the implied noun is băiat (boy) or copil (child, often masculine in feeling when talking about oneself as a boy), so you use the masculine form:

(Când eram băiat) eram mic. – When I was a boy, I was little.

If a woman or girl is speaking about herself as a child, she would normally say:

Când eram mică, mergeam rar la spital.
(feminine singular: mică)

So:

male speaker: Când eram mic...
female speaker: Când eram mică...

What exactly does rar mean, and where can it go in the sentence?

Rar is an adverb meaning rarely / seldom / not often.

In this sentence:

mergeam rar la spital = I rarely went to the hospital

Position:

The most natural position here is after the verb:
mergeam rar la spital
You might also hear rar mergeam la spital, which is possible but has a slightly different rhythm/emphasis.

You normally don’t put rar at the very end here (✗ mergeam la spital rar) unless you are stressing “rarely” in a specific context; the default is after the verb.

Why is it la spital and not la spitalul?

Romanian often uses the indefinite form (without the definite article) for places you go to in a general, institutional sense:

la spital – to hospital, to the hospital (as a place where you get treatment)
la școală – to school
la biserică – to church

La spitalul (with the definite article) usually means a specific hospital you have in mind:

Mergeam rar la spitalul din oraș.
I rarely went to the hospital in town.

In your sentence, the idea is general (“to hospital, in general”), so la spital is correct and natural.

Can I change the word order to Mergeam rar la spital când eram mic?

Yes, that word order is grammatically correct and understandable:

Mergeam rar la spital când eram mic.

However:

Starting with Când eram mic highlights the time frame and sounds more natural in storytelling:
“When I was little, I rarely went to the hospital.”
Starting with Mergeam rar la spital puts more focus on the habit itself:
“I rarely went to the hospital when I was little.”

Both are correct; it’s more about emphasis and style than grammar.

What is the difference in meaning between eram and am fost in general?

Both translate as I was, but they have different aspect:

eram = imperfect tense
– ongoing state in the past
– repeated/habitual action
– background description
Examples:
- Când eram mic, eram foarte timid. – When I was little, I was very shy.
- Eram obosit în fiecare seară. – I was tired every evening.
am fost = perfect compus (compound past)
– one or more completed events
- similar to I was / I have been as a completed period
Examples:
- Am fost obosit ieri. – I was tired yesterday.
- Am fost la mare vara trecută. – I went / I was at the seaside last summer.

In your sentence, “being little” is a background state, not a finished event, so eram fits best.

How do eram and mergeam show that the subject is “I”?

Both verbs are in the 1st person singular imperfect:

Verb a fi (to be), imperfect:
- eu eram – I was
- tu erai – you were
- el/ea era – he/she was
Verb a merge (to go), imperfect:
- eu mergeam – I used to go / I was going
- tu mergeai – you used to go
- el/ea mergea – he/she used to go

The endings ‑am in eram and mergeam mark eu (I).
That’s why the subject pronoun isn’t needed: the verb form already encodes it.

Is the comma after Când eram mic necessary?

Yes, in standard written Romanian, you do put a comma between a subordinate clause of time and the main clause, especially when the subordinate clause comes first:

Când eram mic, mergeam rar la spital.
Când ploua, stăteam în casă.

If you reverse the order, you still usually keep the comma:

Mergeam rar la spital, când eram mic.

So the comma in your sentence follows the normal punctuation rule.

How do you pronounce când eram mic, mergeam rar la spital?

Approximate pronunciation (using English‑style hints):

când – [kɨnd]
- c as in kit
- â like a central “uh” but tense, similar to the vowel in French le
eram – [eˈram]
- e as in met
- stress on ram: e‑RAM
mic – [mik]
- like meek but shorter and with a hard k at the end
mergeam – [merˈdʒeam]
- ge pronounced like j in jam
- ea pronounced like ya in yard
- stress on geam: mer‑GEAM
rar – [rar]
- rolled or tapped r, both times
la – [la]
- like la in la‑la
spital – [spiˈtal]
- sp together like in speak
- stress on tal: spi‑TAL

So overall:
kɨnd e‑RAM mik, mer‑GEAM rar la spi‑TAL.