Learn Spanish (Latin America): Cuando vivíamos en el campo, cultivábamos verduras en la granja. - When we lived in the countryside, we grew vegetables on the farm.

Cuando vivíamos en el campo, cultivábamos verduras en la granja.

When we lived in the countryside, we grew vegetables on the farm.

Breakdown of Cuando vivíamos en el campo, cultivábamos verduras en la granja.

vivir

to live / to be constantly (doing something)

Questions & Answers about Cuando vivíamos en el campo, cultivábamos verduras en la granja.

Why are both vivíamos and cultivábamos in the imperfect tense?

In this sentence, cuando connects a past state (vivíamos) with a past habit (cultivábamos). Because both describe ongoing situations or routines in the past rather than one-time completed events, they both use the imperfect tense. You can think of it as saying, 'When we used to live... we used to grow...'.

Why do vivíamos and cultivábamos both have accent marks?

In the imperfect tense, the nosotros (we) form always has an accent mark to keep the spoken stress on the correct syllable. For -ar verbs like cultivar, the ending is -ábamos. For -er and -ir verbs like vivir, the ending is -íamos.

Does campo mean 'field' or 'countryside'?

It can mean both! Here, en el campo translates best to 'in the countryside' because it describes a general living environment, often contrasting with the city. If you were talking about a specific field of crops, you would also use the word campo.

The English translation says 'on the farm', but the Spanish says en la granja. Doesn't en mean 'in'?