Learn Spanish (Latin America): Cuando visitábamos la granja, la cosecha no era tan grande como ahora. - When we visited the farm, the harvest was not as big as now.

Cuando visitábamos la granja, la cosecha no era tan grande como ahora.

When we visited the farm, the harvest was not as big as now.

Breakdown of Cuando visitábamos la granja, la cosecha no era tan grande como ahora.

Questions & Answers about Cuando visitábamos la granja, la cosecha no era tan grande como ahora.

Why do we use the imperfect tense visitábamos here instead of the preterite visitamos?

Because this sentence is talking about a past habit. Using cuando with the imperfect tense shows that this wasn't just a one-time trip. It translates to 'when we visited' but it really means 'whenever we visited' or 'back when we used to visit'.

Why does visitábamos have an accent mark on the 'a'?

In the nosotros (we) form of the imperfect tense for -ar verbs, the ending is always -ábamos. The accent mark ensures the spoken stress stays on that first a (vi-si-tá-ba-mos) rather than naturally falling on the second-to-last syllable.

Why is it era and not fue for 'was'?

Era is the imperfect form of ser (to be). We use the imperfect here because we are describing a continuous state or characteristic in the past. It sets the background for how the harvest used to be over an extended period of time, rather than talking about a single completed event.

How does the phrase tan grande como work?

This is the Spanish formula for making a comparison of equality: tan + adjective + como means 'as [adjective] as'. Keep in mind that we use tan and not tanto because grande is an adjective describing la cosecha (the harvest).