Learn Spanish (Latin America): La chica sufría mucho en la adolescencia. - The girl used to suffer a lot in adolescence.

La chica sufría mucho en la adolescencia.

The girl used to suffer a lot in adolescence.

Breakdown of La chica sufría mucho en la adolescencia.

the girl (older / teenager)

la adolescencia

adolescence

Questions & Answers about La chica sufría mucho en la adolescencia.

Why does the translation say "used to suffer" when there's no word for "used to"?

The verb sufrir (to suffer) is in the imperfect tense here (sufría). The imperfect is used to talk about ongoing or habitual actions in the past. In English, we often express this by saying "used to" or "was doing". So, sufría on its own means "used to suffer" or "was suffering".

Is -ía the regular imperfect ending for -ir verbs?

Yes! For regular verbs that end in -er and -ir (like sufrir), the imperfect endings all start with -ía. Since la chica is "she" (third-person singular), we use sufría. The other forms would be sufrías (you), sufríamos (we), and sufrían (they/you all).

Why is there an accent mark on the 'i' in sufría?

The accent mark breaks up the vowels 'i' and 'a' into two separate syllables. Without it, they would blend together. The accent tells you to put the stress on the 'i' and pronounce it "soo-FREE-ah". All imperfect endings for -er and -ir verbs have this accent!

Why do we say en la adolescencia instead of just en adolescencia?