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Como llovía, me quedé en casa.

Como llovía, me quedé en casa.
Since it was raining, I stayed at home.
From Lesson 173:Linking ideas (por eso, así que, sobre todo)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about Como llovía, me quedé en casa.

Why does como mean 'since' here? I thought it meant 'like' or 'how'.
You are right that como often means 'like' or 'as', and cómo with an accent means 'how'. But when como is placed at the very beginning of a sentence to introduce the reason for an action, it translates to 'since' or 'because'.
Why use the imperfect tense llovía instead of the preterite llovió?
We use the imperfect tense llovía because it describes an ongoing background scene, translating to 'it was raining'. The preterite llovió would focus on a single, completed event. Here, the ongoing situation of the rain is what caused you to stay inside.
Why is there a me before quedé?
This sentence uses the reflexive verb quedarse, which means 'to stay' in a place. If you drop the me, you are using the non-reflexive verb quedar, which in Spain usually means 'to arrange to meet someone' or 'to remain'. To say 'I stayed', you need me quedé.
Why is it just en casa and not en la casa?
Just like in English where we say 'at home' instead of 'at the home', Spanish uses en casa without the article la when talking about being at your own home.

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