Antes no tenía la costumbre de levantarme temprano, pero lo cambié.

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Breakdown of Antes no tenía la costumbre de levantarme temprano, pero lo cambié.

• de: of
• tener: to have
• temprano: early
• antes: before
• lo: it
• pero: but
• la costumbre: the habit
• levantarse: to wake up
• cambiar: to change

Questions & Answers about Antes no tenía la costumbre de levantarme temprano, pero lo cambié.

Why does the sentence use 'Antes' on its own instead of something like 'En el pasado' or 'Anteriormente'?

In everyday Spanish, 'Antes' commonly serves as a concise marker meaning back then or in the past, conveying a sense of previously. While “En el pasado” or “Anteriormente” could also work, 'Antes' is more casual and widely used in spoken Spanish.

Why is it 'tenía la costumbre' instead of 'tuve la costumbre'?

Spanish uses the imperfect tense (tenía) to describe an ongoing or habitual action in the past, something that was true for a stretch of time. The preterite (tuve) often refers to a specific one-time event completed in the past. Since the speaker is discussing a habitual behavior they used to have, the imperfect tense makes more sense.

How does 'levantarme' work grammatically here?

'Levantarme' comes from 'levantarse', which is a reflexive verb. In Spanish, reflexive verbs show that the action is being done by the subject to themselves. The reflexive pronoun 'me' is attached to the end of 'levantar', giving 'levantarme', meaning to get myself up.

What does 'lo cambié' refer to in this sentence?

The 'lo' stands in for the previously mentioned habit of not getting up early. So when the speaker says 'lo cambié', they mean I changed (that habit) or I changed it. It’s a direct object pronoun referring back to the idea of not waking up early.