El mono jugaba cuando de repente vio una araña.
The monkey was playing when suddenly it saw a spider.
Breakdown of El mono jugaba cuando de repente vio una araña.
una
a, an (feminine)
ver
to see / to look / appear
jugar
to play
cuando
when (statement)
Questions & Answers about El mono jugaba cuando de repente vio una araña.
Why do we use both the imperfect (jugaba) and the preterite (vio) in this sentence?
This is the classic interrupted action pattern! You use the imperfect (jugaba) for the ongoing background action ('was playing'), and the preterite (vio) for the sudden event that interrupts it ('saw').
Is de repente a clue for which past tense to use?
Why doesn't vio have an accent mark on the 'o' like other preterite verbs?
Regular preterite verbs for 'he/she/it' usually end in an accented vowel, like comió (ate) or habló (spoke). However, ver is slightly irregular. Because vio is just one syllable, Spanish spelling rules dictate that it does not get an accent mark.