Learn Spanish (Spain): Nací en España, pero crecí en Francia. - I was born in Spain, but I grew up in France.

Both come from regular -er verbs: nacer (to be born) and crecer (to grow up). To make the "yo" (I) form in the preterite tense for regular -er and -ir verbs, you drop the ending and add -í. Notice the written accent mark over the í—it is required to show that the vocal stress falls on that final syllable!

In English we say "I was born" using two words, but in Spanish it is just one word (nací). Why?

In English, "to be born" uses the verb "to be" to describe a state. In Spanish, nacer is an active, standalone verb that means "to be born" all by itself. Because of this, nací translates to the entire phrase "I was born." You do not use the Spanish verbs ser or estar to say you were born.

Growing up takes years, so why is crecí in the preterite tense instead of the imperfect tense?

Even though growing up takes a long time, the speaker is looking back at it as a completed, finished chapter of their life. The preterite is used to state these facts as single, closed events in the past. If the speaker were instead setting the scene for an ongoing story (like "While I was growing up in France..."), they would use the imperfect tense.

How do you pronounce the c in nací and crecí in Spain?