en mi vida
Hi!
I understand that "en mi vida" literally means "in my life", but is it also used for the english expression "never in my life"? Like
En mi vida pensé que pudiera pasar eso (I never in my life thought that could happen)
or
En mi vida experimenté algo parecido (i never in my life experienced anything like that)
Finally, if I'm correct in thinking that "en mi vida" does translate to "never in my life", is it used with the preterite or the imperfect?
i.e. would it be better said "En mi vida experimentaba..."
2 Answers
"En la vida" is more common, as far as I know. "Never in (my) life..." I think it would be better to say: "En la vida, he experimentado algo parecido"
Sheily is correct. The only time we say mi vida is something like "It's my life, not yours" or ie: if I were involved with Sheily, I could call her mi vida or vida mia.
Your English examples are in negative, but the Spanish variants are lacking a negative word, ie: nunca.
"En la vida experimentaba..." should be in present perfect - unless you are about to die and recounting your life story.
