Reminisce About College in Spanish

Quick Answer

¡Hola!Learn how to reminisce about college in Spanish in this article and the lessons above! Specifically, learn how to do the following in Spanish:

• talk about experiences you had at college

• describe things using common adjectives

• use the imperfect to talk about habits in the past

Vocabulary

Let's start off with the vocab words in these lessons!

Adjectives

SpanishEnglish
atléticoathletic
comprensivounderstanding
comprometidocommitted
creativocreative
críticocritical
disciplinadodisciplined
excelenteexcellent
luminosobright
majestuosomajestic
preferidofavorite
examples
En la universidad, yo era muy atlético.
In college, I was very athletic.
Mi profesor favorito era muy comprensivo.
My favorite professor was very understanding.
Yo estaba comprometida con causas sociales.
I was committed to social causes.

Nouns

SpanishEnglish
el aulaclassroom
el balletballet
el campuscampus
el clubclub
la informáticacomputing, computer science
el/la laptoplaptop
examples
Allí había muchas laptops.
There were lots of laptops there.
Mi universidad tenía un campus enorme.
My university had an enormous campus.
Por ejemplo, era miembro del club de ballet.
For example, I was a member of the ballet club.

Gender Tip

El aula? That’s right! In Spanish, the word aula takes a masculine singular article. Why? Singular feminine nouns that start with stressed a or ha sounds use the masculine singular article, el. Why? For the same reason we use an instead of a in English—two as together are very difficult to pronounce! Note that aula takes a feminine article when used in the plural.

examples

Cada asignatura tenía lugar en un aula diferente.
Each subject was held in a different classroom.

Las aulas eran muy luminosas.
The classrooms were very bright.

Noun Phrase

SpanishEnglish
la administración de empresasbusiness management
examples
Yo estudiaba administración de empresas.
I studied business management.

Pronoun

SpanishEnglish
quienwho, whom
examples
Tenía un amigo con quien siempre estudiaba.
I had a friend with whom I always studied.

Relative Pronouns: Que and Quien

Queand quienare two relative pronouns that you'll use a lot. You studied que in the last skill and you know that it can be used to refer to a person, but what about quien?

Let’s take a look at these relative pronouns together:

  • Que can refer to a person, place, or thing and means that, which, who, or whom.
  • Quien can only refer to a person and means who or whom.
  • Quien must match its antecedent (the who it refers to) in number. if the antecedent to which it refers is singular, you use quien; if it is plural, you use quienes.

Note that the relative pronouns que and quien are spelled the same as the interrogative words qué and quién, minus the accent over the e.

In general, relative pronouns are used according to their length and the distance between them and their antecedents. As a general rule, the farther the relative pronoun is from the antecedent, the longer the relative pronoun is (the more letters it has).

Que

As you learned in the previous skill, que is used when the relative pronoun comes immediately after the antecedent. Nothing separates the relative pronoun from the antecedent, not even a comma.

Quien

Quien (and its plural form quienes) is used when the antecedent refers to a person and is separated from the antecedent (usually by a comma or preposition). It's commonly used after prepositions like para and con.

examples

Tenía un amigo con quien siempre estudiaba.
I had a friend with whom I always studied.

Tenía una profesora a quien preguntaba mis dudas.
I had a professor to whom I brought my questions.

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Conocer

Conocer(to know) is an -er verb that is regular in the imperfect.

Pronoun(s)ConjugationTranslationNotes
yoconocíaI knew
conocíasyou knewinformal singular you
vosconocíasyou knewinformal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ellaconocíahe, she knew
ustedconocíayou knewformal singular you
nosotros, nosotrasconocíamoswe knew
vosotros, vosotrasconocíaisyou knewinformal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellasconocíanthey knew
ustedesconocíanyou knewplural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Elegir

Elegir(to pick) is an -er verb that is regular in the imperfect.

Pronoun(s)ConjugationTranslationNotes
yoelegíaI picked
elegíasyou pickedinformal singular you
voselegíasyou pickedinformal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ellaelegíahe, she picked
ustedelegíayou pickedformal singular you
nosotros, nosotraselegíamoswe picked
vosotros, vosotraselegíaisyou pickedinformal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellaselegíanthey picked
ustedeselegíanyou pickedplural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Estudiar

Estudiar(to study) is an -ar verb that is regular in the imperfect.

Pronoun(s)ConjugationTranslationNotes
yoestudiabaI studied
estudiabasyou studiedinformal singular you
vosestudiabasyou studiedinformal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ellaestudiabahe, she studied
ustedestudiabayou studiedformal singular you
nosotros, nosotrasestudiábamoswe studied
vosotros, vosotrasestudiabaisyou studiedinformal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellasestudiabanthey studied
ustedesestudiabanyou studiedplural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Pertenecer

Pertenecer(to belong to) is an -er verb that is regular in the imperfect.

Pronoun(s)ConjugationTranslationNotes
yopertenecíaI belonged to
pertenecíasyou belonged toinformal singular you
vospertenecíasyou belonged toinformal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ellapertenecíahe, she belonged to
ustedpertenecíayou belonged toformal singular you
nosotros, nosotraspertenecíamoswe belonged to
vosotros, vosotraspertenecíaisyou belonged toinformal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellaspertenecíanthey belonged to
ustedespertenecíanyou belonged toplural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Poder

Poder(can, to be able to) is an -er verb that is regular in the imperfect.

Pronoun(s)ConjugationTranslationNotes
yopodíaI could
podíasyou couldinformal singular you
vospodíasyou couldinformal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ellapodíahe, she could
ustedpodíayou couldformal singular you
nosotros, nosotraspodíamoswe could
vosotros, vosotraspodíaisyou couldinformal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellaspodíanthey could
ustedespodíanyou couldplural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Preguntar

Preguntar(to ask) is an -ar verb that is regular in the imperfect.

Pronoun(s)ConjugationTranslationNotes
yopreguntabaI asked
preguntabasyou askedinformal singular you
vospreguntabasyou askedinformal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ellapreguntabahe, she asked
ustedpreguntabayou askedformal singular you
nosotros, nosotraspreguntábamoswe asked
vosotros, vosotraspreguntabaisyou askedinformal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellaspreguntabanthey asked
ustedespreguntabanyou askedplural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Querer

Querer(to want) is an -er verb that is regular in the imperfect.

Pronoun(s)ConjugationTranslationNotes
yoqueríaI wanted
queríasyou wantedinformal singular you
vosqueríasyou wantedinformal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ellaqueríahe, she wanted
ustedqueríayou wantedformal singular you
nosotros, nosotrasqueríamoswe wanted
vosotros, vosotrasqueríaisyou wantedinformal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellasqueríanthey wanted
ustedesqueríanyou wantedplural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Saber

Saber(to know) is an -er verb that is regular in the imperfect.

Pronoun(s)ConjugationTranslationNotes
yosabíaI knew
sabíasyou knewinformal singular you
vossabíasyou knewinformal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ellasabíahe, she knew
ustedsabíayou knewformal singular you
nosotros, nosotrassabíamoswe knew
vosotros, vosotrassabíaisyou knewinformal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellassabíanthey knew
ustedessabíanyou knewplural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Tomar

Tomar(to take) is an -ar verb that is regular in the imperfect.

Pronoun(s)ConjugationTranslationNotes
yotomabaI took
tomabasyou tookinformal singular you
vostomabasyou tookinformal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ellatomabahe, she took
ustedtomabayou tookformal singular you
nosotros, nosotrastomábamoswe took
vosotros, vosotrastomabaisyou tookinformal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellastomabanthey took
ustedestomabanyou tookplural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Usar

Usar(to use) is an -ar verb that is regular in the imperfect.

Pronoun(s)ConjugationTranslationNotes
yousabaI used
usabasyou usedinformal singular you
vosusabasyou usedinformal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ellausabahe, she used
ustedusabayou usedformal singular you
nosotros, nosotrasusábamoswe used
vosotros, vosotrasusabaisyou usedinformal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellasusabanthey used
ustedesusabanyou usedplural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Imperfect Verbs: Introduction

The imperfect tense, or pretérito imperfecto, is one of the two tenses used to talk about the past in Spanish. We use it to talk about descriptions in the past, like past habits, repeated actions and feelings, or to set the scene when talking about an action that was interrupted.

In these lessons, you learned some common expressions that indicate that the imperfect tense should be used. These expressions include:

  • cada semestre
  • en aquella época
  • en la universidad
  • nunca

Imperfect Verbs: Regular Verbs

Conjugating verbs in the imperfect tense is simple! Just take the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, or -ir) off the verb and add one of the following endings. Don’t forget the tildes(accents)!

Subject-ar Verbs-er and -ir Verbs
yo-aba-ía
-abas-ías
vos-abas-ías
él, ella, usted-aba-ía
nosotros-ábamos-íamos
vosotros-abais-íais
ellos, ellas, ustedes-aban-ían

Imperfect Tense: Irregular Verbs

Like any other tense in Spanish, the imperfect tense is, well, imperfect! However, it’s far more user-friendly than other Spanish tenses; there are just three irregular verbs! Here’s how you conjugate all three irregular verbs in the imperfect tense:

SubjectIr (to go)Ser (to be)Ver (to see)
yoibaeraveía
ibaserasveías
vosibaserasveías
él, ella, ustedibaeraveía
nosotrosíbamoséramosveíamos
vosotrosibaiseraisveíais
ellos, ellas, ustedesibaneranveían

Quiz Yourself!

Want more practice with the vocabulary you learned in these lessons? Click here!

Spanish Conversation

Fantastic! Let's put the grammar and vocab from above to the test in the following example of a conversation in Spanish.

Hugo:
Fuiste a una universidad mexicana, ¿verdad?
You went to a Mexican university, didn’t you?
Amira:
¡Sí, en Cholula! Mi universidad tenía un campus enorme. Los profesores eran excelentes.
Yes, in Cholula! My university had an enormous campus. The professors were excellent.
Hugo:
¿Cómo era tu profesor favorito?
What was your favorite professor like?
Amira:
Mi profesor favorito era muy comprensivo. Además, él era muy creativo.
My favorite professor was very understanding. Additionally, he was very creative.
Hugo:
¿Cuántos clases tomabas?
How many classes did you take?
Amira:
Cada semestre, yo tomaba seis clases. Nunca quería estar sin hacer nada.
Every semester, I took six classes. I never wanted to sit around doing nothing.

Want to learn more about how to reminisce about college in Spanish? Check out the following articles!

Academic Titles in Spanish

First Day of School

Say Why You Study Spanish in Spanish