Learn Spanish (Spain): Antes siempre jugaba en la calle. - Before, I always used to play in the street.

Antes siempre jugaba en la calle.

Before, I always used to play in the street.

Breakdown of Antes siempre jugaba en la calle.

in / on / by (means of transport) / about (after pensar)

Questions & Answers about Antes siempre jugaba en la calle.

Why do we use jugaba here instead of the past tense jugué?

Jugaba is the imperfect tense. We use the imperfect to talk about habits or things you used to do repeatedly in the past. The words antes (before) and siempre (always) are big clues that this was an ongoing habit, not just a one-time event!

The ending -aba is used for I, but doesn't it also mean he or she? How do we know it means I?

You are exactly right! The form jugaba can mean I used to play, he used to play, she used to play, or you (formal) used to play. In real life, the conversation's context makes it clear. If it is ever ambiguous, you can just add the pronoun and say Yo antes siempre jugaba...

In the present tense, I play is juego. Why is there no ue in jugaba?

The imperfect tense is very friendly! Unlike the present tense, regular -ar verbs do not have stem changes in the imperfect. You just take the infinitive jugar, chop off the -ar, and add the regular -aba endings. So, jugar becomes jugaba with no weird spelling changes.

Does jugar en la calle literally mean playing in the middle of the road?

It translates to playing in the street, but in Spain, jugar en la calle is the standard way to say playing outside or playing out in your neighborhood. It just means you left the house to go play!