Learn Spanish (Spain): Antes montábamos mucho en bicicleta.

Antes montábamos mucho en bicicleta.

Before, we used to ride a bike a lot.

Breakdown of Antes montábamos mucho en bicicleta.

mucho

a lot

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

Questions & Answers about Antes montábamos mucho en bicicleta.

Why use montábamos instead of the past tense montamos?

Montábamos is in the imperfect tense, which we use for habits or repeated actions in the past. The word antes (before) gives a strong clue that this was an ongoing routine (something you used to do) rather than a single event with a clear end.

Why does montábamos have an accent mark?

For regular -ar verbs in the imperfect tense, the nosotros (we) form always gets an accent mark on the first a of the ending: -ábamos. This tells you where to put the stress when speaking. The other forms, like montaba or montabas, do not need one.

Why do we say en bicicleta for riding a bike?

In Spanish, the preposition en is used with almost all modes of transportation. Just like you travel en tren (by train) or en coche (by car), you ride en bicicleta.

Why is there no word for a (una) before bicicleta?

When you talk about a general mode of transport, Spanish usually drops the article. You are talking about the activity of biking, so saying en una bicicleta would sound like you are emphasizing one very specific bike.