Log inSign up

Cuando la vi, fue un flechazo.

Cuando la vi, fue un flechazo.
When I saw her, it was love at first sight.
From Lesson 321:Dating and Breakups·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about Cuando la vi, fue un flechazo.

How does un flechazo translate to love at first sight?
The word flecha means arrow, and the suffix -azo means a hit or a blow. So, un flechazo literally translates to an arrow strike. It refers to the idea of being suddenly shot by Cupid's arrow, making it the standard Spanish idiom for love at first sight.
Why do we use the preterite fue instead of the imperfect era?
The preterite tense fue is used because falling in love at first sight is viewed as a sudden, completed event that happened the exact moment you saw her. Using the imperfect era would sound like an ongoing background description rather than a sudden strike of emotion.
Why is there no accent mark on the verb vi?
While many past tense verbs for the 'I' form end in an accented vowel, like comí or hablé, single-syllable words in Spanish normally do not take an accent mark. Because vi is just one syllable, it follows this rule, just like fui, fue, and vio.
If I wanted to say 'When I saw him', what pronoun would I use instead of la?
The standard masculine direct object pronoun is lo, making it cuando lo vi. However, in Spain, it is extremely common and grammatically accepted to use le instead of lo when referring to a male person. This regional feature is called leísmo. Both are correct for a man, but you must strictly use la for a woman.

Learn Cuando la vi, fue un flechazo and more in Spanish

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Spanish →