Yo siempre recibía buenas notas en esa materia.
I always used to receive good grades in that subject.
Breakdown of Yo siempre recibía buenas notas en esa materia.
yo
I
en
in / on / at
siempre
always
esa
that (feminine)
recibir
to receive
bueno
good
la nota
grade
la materia
subject
Questions & Answers about Yo siempre recibía buenas notas en esa materia.
Why is the verb recibía in the imperfect tense here instead of the preterite (recibí)?
For regular -ir verbs like recibir, what is the pattern for the imperfect tense?
To form the imperfect for regular -er and -ir verbs, you drop the ending and add -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, or -ían. Notice that the yo form (recibía) and the él/ella/usted form (recibía) are exactly the same! That is why the pronoun yo is helpful here—it makes it perfectly clear who we are talking about.
Why is the adjective placed before the noun in buenas notas instead of after (notas buenas)?
In Spanish, descriptive adjectives usually go after the noun. However, common adjectives like bueno (good) and malo (bad) are often placed before the noun to express an inherent quality or to emphasize it. Buenas notas sounds very natural when talking about school grades.
Wait, doesn't esa mean "that"? Why not use eso?
Yes, esa means "that"! You have to match the gender and number of the word you are pointing out. Since materia is a feminine singular noun, you must use the feminine singular word for "that," which is esa. Eso is a neutral pronoun used only for abstract ideas or unknown objects, never directly before a noun like this.
Learn Yo siempre recibía buenas notas en esa materia and more in Spanish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free