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Mi abuelo dice que yo inventaba reglas tontas.

Mi abuelo dice que yo inventaba reglas tontas.
My grandfather says that I used to invent silly rules.
From Lesson 109:The imperfect tense of regular -ar verbs·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Mi abuelo dice que yo inventaba reglas tontas.

Why does this sentence use inventaba instead of the preterite form inventé?
Inventaba is the imperfect tense, which we use for past habits and ongoing actions. Translating it as "used to invent" shows this was something you did repeatedly over time, rather than a single, completed event in the past (which is when you would use the preterite inventé).
Is it strictly necessary to include yo before inventaba?
It is highly recommended here for clarity! In the imperfect tense, the yo (I) and él/ella/usted (he/she/you) forms are exactly the same: inventaba. If you drop the yo, it might sound like your grandfather is saying that he used to invent the rules.
Why is dice in the present tense if the sentence is about the past?
The sentence mixes tenses because it talks about two different timeframes. Your grandfather is speaking right now in the present (dice) about a habit that you had in the past (inventaba).
Why is it reglas tontas and not tontas reglas?
In Spanish, descriptive adjectives like tontas (silly or dumb) almost always come after the noun they describe. Also, notice that tontas ends in -as so that it agrees with the feminine, plural noun reglas.

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