Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): De pequeña me daba miedo que los perros me mordieran la mano o el brazo. - When I was little I was afraid that dogs would bite my hand or my arm.

de + adjective is a very common way in Spanish to say “when I was X”:
- De pequeña → When I was little (speaker is female)
- De pequeño → When I was little (speaker is male)
- De joven → When I was young
- De mayor → As an adult / when I was older

So de here is not “of/from” in the normal sense; it’s part of an idiomatic time expression: De pequeña, … = Cuando era pequeña, …

Why is it pequeña and not pequeño?

The adjective pequeña agrees with the person speaking.

A woman or girl would say: De pequeña…
A man or boy would say: De pequeño…

There is no explicit noun in the sentence (niña, chica, etc.) but it’s understood:

(Cuando era una niña pequeña) → De pequeña

Adjectives in Spanish must match the implied noun in gender and number, even when that noun is omitted.

What does me daba miedo mean exactly, and how is this different from tenía miedo?

Me daba miedo literally: “it gave me fear” → natural English: “it scared me / it used to scare me”.

dar miedo (a alguien) = to frighten someone / to scare someone.
- Me da miedo = It scares me.
- Me daba miedo = It used to scare me / I used to find it scary.
tener miedo (de algo) = to be afraid (of something).
- Tenía miedo de los perros = I was afraid of dogs.

In this sentence:

Me daba miedo que los perros me mordieran… focuses on that situation (“dogs biting me”) as something that caused fear.
Tenía miedo de que los perros me mordieran… is also correct and very close in meaning, just structured as “I was afraid of X” rather than “X scared me”.

Both are natural; dar miedo is extremely common for “to be scary / to scare me”.

Why is it me daba miedo (imperfect) and not me dio miedo (preterite)?

The imperfect (daba) describes a repeated or ongoing state in the past, not a single event.

Me daba miedo… → I used to be scared / It used to scare me (habitual, general childhood fear).
Me dio miedo… → It scared me (at a specific moment).

Here, we are talking about a general, repeated feeling in childhood, so Spanish naturally uses the imperfect:

De pequeña, me daba miedo… = When I was little, I used to be scared…

Why is it que los perros me mordieran and not an infinitive like morderme?

After expressions of fear like me daba miedo, Spanish normally uses que + subjunctive when the subject of the scary action is different.

Main “experiencer” (person who is afraid): yo (implied by me).
Subject of the scary action: los perros.

Because these are different, Spanish chooses:

Me daba miedo que los perros me mordieran…
(It scared me that the dogs might bite me…)

If the subject were the same, you’d use an infinitive:

Me daba miedo caerme. = I was afraid of falling. (subject of fear and falling is the same)

With perros as a separate subject, que + subjunctive is the standard structure:

Me daba miedo que los perros me mordieran. ✅
Me daba miedo los perros morderme. ❌ (unnatural)

Why is mordieran in the subjunctive, and not muerden, mordían, or morderían?

Mordieran is the imperfect subjunctive. Spanish requires the subjunctive after many expressions of emotion, including fear, when followed by que and a new subject.

Pattern:

(A alguien) le da/daba miedo que + [subjunctive]

So:

Me daba miedo que los perros me mordieran…
- “I used to be scared that the dogs would/might bite me…”

Why not other forms?

muerden (present indicative): would sound like a factual statement, not a feared possibility.
mordían (imperfect indicative): also indicative, sounds like describing something that was actually happening.
morderían (conditional): would suggest something more hypothetical, but me daba miedo que… strongly prefers subjunctive, not conditional.

English uses “would/might bite” here, but Spanish expresses that with the imperfect subjunctive: mordieran.

How is mordieran formed from morder, and why isn’t it *muerdieran?

Mordieran is the imperfect subjunctive of morder.

Rule: imperfect subjunctive is built from the third person plural preterite:

Preterite 3rd plural of morder: mordieron.
Drop -ron → mordie-.
Add imperfect subjunctive endings -ra, -ras, -ra, -ramos, -rais, -ran:
- mordiera, mordieras, mordiera, mordiéramos, mordierais, mordieran

The stem-change o → ue (like morder → muerdo) only happens in some present forms.
In the preterite it’s mordieron, not *muerdieron, so the subjunctive also uses mord-, not muerd-.

So:

Present: muerdan (present subjunctive, stem change)
Imperfect subj.: mordieran (no stem change)

Why is me used twice: me daba miedo and que los perros me mordieran?

They’re two different object pronouns, each needed for a different verb:

Me daba miedo…
- dar miedo (a alguien) = to scare someone.
- me = indirect object (to me).
- Literal: “It gave fear to me.”
…que los perros me mordieran…
- morder a alguien = to bite someone.
- me = direct object (bite me).

So:

First me = the person who is scared.
Second me = the person being bitten in the imagined situation.

You must keep both; they play different roles with different verbs.

Why is it la mano o el brazo and not mi mano o mi brazo?

Spanish usually uses a definite article (el/la) with body parts and clothing when it’s clear whose body/clothes we’re talking about, often thanks to a pronoun like me, te, se:

Me lavé las manos. = I washed my hands.
Le duele la cabeza. = His/her head hurts.
Me mordieron la mano. = They bit my hand.

In this sentence:

me mordieran la mano o el brazo
The me already tells us it’s my hand/arm, so Spanish doesn’t need mi.

Using mi mano / mi brazo wouldn’t be wrong grammatically, but it would sound less natural and a bit redundant here. The neutral, everyday choice is la mano / el brazo.

Why is it los perros and not just perros?

Spanish often uses el/la/los/las to talk about things in general, especially whole categories or species:

Los perros son inteligentes. = Dogs are intelligent.
Odio a los mosquitos. = I hate mosquitoes.

Here:

los perros doesn’t mean specific, known dogs.
It means dogs in general, the species, as a class.

You could technically say que perros me mordieran…, but los perros is the normal way to refer to dogs generically in this type of sentence.

Could you also say que los perros me mordieran en la mano o en el brazo? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

…que los perros me mordieran en la mano o en el brazo.

Differences:

me mordieran la mano / el brazo
→ focuses on the body part as the direct object (“bite my hand/arm”).
me mordieran en la mano / en el brazo
→ literally “bite me on the hand/arm”, focusing more on where they bite you.

Both are correct; switching between them is more a style preference than a big change in meaning. The original me mordieran la mano o el brazo is extremely natural.

Could I say Cuando era pequeña, me daba miedo que los perros me mordieran… instead of De pequeña? Is there any nuance?

Yes, absolutely:

De pequeña, me daba miedo…
Cuando era pequeña, me daba miedo…

Both mean “When I was little, I used to be afraid…”.

Nuance:

De pequeña is very idiomatic and slightly more colloquial.
Cuando era pequeña is a bit more explicit and neutral.

In normal conversation and writing, both are perfectly fine and widely used.

Is the subjunctive mordieran always required after me daba miedo que…?

With me da/daba miedo que…, the subjunctive is the default and practically obligatory if you’re talking about something feared as a possibility:

Me da miedo que se enfade. = I’m afraid (that) he’ll get angry.
Me daba miedo que los perros me mordieran. = I used to be afraid the dogs would bite me.

If you remove que and don’t introduce a new clause, then no subjunctive:

Me daban miedo los perros. = I was scared of dogs. (No subordinate clause → no subjunctive.)

So:

Me daba miedo que los perros me mordieran. ✅ (subjunctive required)
Me daba miedo que los perros me mordían. ❌ (indicative sounds wrong here)