Breakdown of De pequeña, siempre rompía a llorar desconsoladamente.
siempre
always
llorar
to cry
de pequeño
as a child
romper
to burst out (suddenly start, + infinitive)
a
linking word before an infinitive (after 'to burst out')
desconsoladamente
inconsolably
Questions & Answers about De pequeña, siempre rompía a llorar desconsoladamente.
Why use rompía a instead of just empezaba a?
The phrase romper a plus an infinitive is a specific structure used for sudden, abrupt, and often emotional beginnings. While empezaba a llorar just means she started to cry, rompía a llorar carries the more intense, sudden meaning of bursting into tears.
If romper a describes a sudden start, why is it in the imperfect tense (rompía) rather than the preterite (rompió)?
Even though the action of bursting into tears is sudden, the word siempre tells us this was a repeated, habitual action over a period of time in the past. We use the imperfect tense for past habits, so a one-time event like rompió a llorar becomes rompía a llorar to show she did it repeatedly.
Why does the sentence start with De pequeña instead of using Como for 'As a child'?
In Spanish, the preposition de is naturally used before an adjective or noun indicating a stage of life to mean 'as a' or 'when she was a'. Translating 'as a' literally with como sounds very unnatural to native speakers in this context.
How do you break down the long adverb desconsoladamente?
Learn De pequeña, siempre rompía a llorar desconsoladamente 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