Dejé de pagar en efectivo porque siempre perdía monedas.

I stopped paying in cash because I always lost coins.

Breakdown of Dejé de pagar en efectivo porque siempre perdía monedas.

• yo: I
• en: in
• siempre: always
• porque: because
• la moneda: the coin
• pagar: to pay
• el efectivo: the cash
• perder: to lose
• dejar de: to stop

Questions & Answers about Dejé de pagar en efectivo porque siempre perdía monedas.

Why is it dejé de pagar and not dejé pagar or paré de pagar?

• Dejar de + infinitive means “to stop/quit doing” something. So dejé de pagar = “I stopped paying.”
• Dejar + infinitive (without de) means “to allow/let”: e.g., Le dejé pagar = “I let him pay.” Saying dejé pagar without an object is either wrong or incomplete.
• Parar (de) + infinitive is possible but more colloquial and often used (especially in the negative) for something that won’t stop: No paro de perder monedas. For a deliberate decision to quit a habit, dejar de is the neutral, preferred choice in Spain.

Why is dejé in the preterite? Could I say he dejado?

• Dejé (preterite) presents a single, completed action in the past.
• He dejado (present perfect) is common in Spain when the past event is recent or linked to the present or a “current” time frame:
  
  • Este año he dejado de pagar en efectivo.
  • El año pasado dejé de pagar en efectivo.

Why is it perdía (imperfect) and not perdí (preterite)?

• Perdía describes a repeated/habitual action or a background tendency. With siempre, the imperfect is the default: “I would always lose coins.”
• Perdí is a one-off completed event: Ayer perdí monedas = “Yesterday I lost coins.”

Can I say siempre estaba perdiendo monedas instead of siempre perdía monedas?

• Yes, but it adds an aspectual nuance: estaba perdiendo highlights the ongoing process or an irritatingly frequent pattern.
• The simple imperfect (siempre perdía) is the most natural, compact way to express a habit.

Where should siempre go: before or after the verb?

• Default: before the verb — siempre perdía monedas.
• Perdía siempre monedas is possible but less common; it can sound marked or emphatic.
• Avoid splitting it unnaturally: perdía monedas siempre is not typical in this sentence.

Why pagar en efectivo and not pagar con efectivo? Yet we say pagar con tarjeta.

• It’s idiomatic collocation: Spanish says pagar en efectivo but pagar con tarjeta.
• You’ll also hear pagar en metálico (Spain). Pagar con efectivo is understood but not the usual phrasing.

What’s the difference between en efectivo, en metálico, and al contado in Spain?

• En efectivo / en metálico: pay with notes/coins (not card/transfer).
• Al contado: pay in full, upfront (not in installments). It often implies cash but can also be by card in one payment.

Is efectivo also a noun? Could I say Dejé de usar efectivo?

• Yes. El efectivo = “cash.”
• Dejé de usar efectivo is natural.
• Dejé el efectivo is ambiguous (“I left the cash behind”); use dejé de usar to mean “I stopped using.”

Does pagar need a direct object here? Should it be dejé de pagarlo en efectivo?

• Pagar can be intransitive when you’re talking about the manner of paying: pagar en efectivo is fine.
• If you refer to a specific bill/item, add the object: Dejé de pagarlo en efectivo (“I stopped paying for it in cash”).
• Don’t say pagar por [la cosa] in this meaning; Spanish normally uses pagar [la cosa]. Pagar por is for penalties/exchange: Pagar por mis errores.

What’s the difference between porque, por qué, porqué, and por que?

• porque: “because.”
• por qué: “why?” in questions.
• el porqué: “the reason” (a noun): No sé el porqué.
• por que: rare sequence from por + que in certain relative/pronominal structures.

Why isn’t yo used? Would Yo dejé… be wrong?

• Spanish usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending shows the subject.
• Yo dejé… is correct but adds emphasis/contrast (“I, as opposed to others, stopped…”).

Is Me dejé de pagar en efectivo correct?

• No. Dejarse de + noun means “to cut it out/quit messing with”: Déjate de tonterías.
• To mean “stop doing X,” use dejar de + infinitive: Dejé de pagar en efectivo.

Is perder irregular?

• Present: stem-changing (e → ie): pierdo, pierdes, pierde…
• Preterite and imperfect are regular: perdí, perdías/perdía.
• Past participle: perdido; gerund: perdiendo.

Should it be las monedas instead of just monedas?

• monedas (no article) talks about coins in general: “I kept losing coins.”
• las monedas would point to specific coins (e.g., the ones I had on me). Both are grammatical; here the generic sense fits well.

Could I say porque siempre se me perdían (las) monedas?

• Yes. The se + indirect object construction (se me…) presents the loss as accidental/unintentional: “Coins kept getting lost on me.”
• It’s common and sounds natural in Spain: porque siempre se me perdían las monedas.

Are there Spain-specific words for “coins/change”?

• calderilla / suelto: loose change.
• cambio: change you receive after paying.
• las vueltas: colloquial for the change given back.
• Latin America often says el vuelto (not typical in Spain).

Why do dejé and perdía have accents?

• dejé: the accent marks the preterite 1st person singular of dejar and distinguishes it from deje (present subjunctive/imperative).
• perdía: the accent on -ía is standard in the imperfect for -er/-ir verbs to keep the stress consistent.