# cuando crecí/crecía



## Yacamaca

It is said that imperfect is used when something is done over along time, so why is it that you say "Cuando yo crecí ..." and not crecía. Cause if anything takes a long time it is growing!  Is it because of the word "cuando" that makes it set in time, or is it because it implies that you are no longer growing?

And what tense would you use after??
"Cuando yo crecí teniamos/tuvimos un perro."
"Cuando yo crecí era/fue muy comun tener pelo largo."

And if the tenses are different, then why? It is set in the same time so shouldnt the tense be the same?

Grateful for answers!
Sincerely, Y


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## Fiorentinus

I personally would never say "cuando yo crecía" I can't think of a sentence where I would. "Cuando yo crecí" is different, however.

"Cuando yo crecí teníamos/tuvimos un perro" doesn't make sense regardless of the tense you use. If anything I would say "cuando crecí me compré un perro" which translates to "when I grew up I bought a dog". "Cuando yo crecí me compraba un perro" does not make sense as it would translate to "when I grew up used to buy/was buying a dog".

As for the second sentence, "Cuando yo ESTABA creciendo, era muy común tener el pelo largo". I can't really explain why, but using "cuando yo crecía" in that sentence isn't quite right. 

I'm afraid I don't understand what your questions are exactly. Let me know if I can help further!


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## Yacamaca

_"I'm afraid I don't understand what your questions are exactly. Let me know if I can help further!"_
It is said that imperfect is used when something is done over along time, so why is it that you say "Cuando yo crecí ..." and not crecía. Cause if anything takes a long time it is growing!  Is it because of the word "cuando" that makes it set in time, or is it because it implies that you are no longer growing?

_"Cuando yo crecí teníamos/tuvimos un perro" doesn't make sense regardless of the tense you use."_
Ok, so how would you say "When I grew up, we had a dog."?

Sincerely, Y


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## Fmorondo

As you suggest, the problem is "cuando" doesn't fit "crecer", as the verb implies in itself a period of time (it's a durative verb), In Spanish it sounds like saying "When I read, we had a dog". You miss the title of the book you were reading to limit the action. You could say "cuando yo crecía en el pueblo, teníamos un perro", but it sounds a bit strange (I would say "vivía"). I think "crecer" it's used in this context as becoming an adult: "Yo crecí en un pueblo pequeño". It has also a moral sense: "Yo crecía alegre mientras mi padre trabajaba de sol a sol".

I would say "cuando yo era niño, teníamos un perro".


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## Fiorentinus

You are right, the imperfect is generally used to refer to actions that took place for an extended period/repeatedly. Saying "cuando yo crecí" implies that something happened at a specific point in time when you became older. For example "cuando crecí, me fui de la casa en la que me crié", "when I grew up, I left the house I was raised in". Maybe that "crecí" implies that the person turned a particular age, or at some point in time felt they grew up and did something as a consequence. Does that make sense?

As for your other question. Correct me if I'm wrong, anyone, but to me "when I grew up, we had a dog" isn't grammatically correct english. If anything "when I was growing up, we had a dog" in which case it would be roughly translated to "cuando yo estaba creciendo, teníamos un perro". In Spanish we usually don't say when I was growing up "cuando yo estaba creciendo" but "cuando era joven, teníamos un perro" or "when I was younger, we had a dog". It just doesn't sound right to me 100% to say "cuando yo estaba creciendo".


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## Fiorentinus

Fmorondo I agree 100%


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## chacahua

Fiorentinus said:


> If anything "when I was growing up, we had a dog" in which case it would be roughly translated to "cuando yo estaba creciendo, teníamos un perro". In Spanish we usually don't say when I was growing up "cuando yo estaba creciendo" but "cuando era joven, teníamos un perro" or "when I was younger, we had a dog". It just doesn't sound right to me 100% to say "cuando yo estaba creciendo".



Yacamaca, I believe that the heart of your (very understandable) confusion is found in the fact that, for whatever reason, Spanish just doesn't like the phrase "Cuando crecía." We are taught that the imperfect is another way of expressing the past progressive, but, as in this case, it just isn't always so. Given what we are taught in school, "When I was growing up" should translate as "Cuando yo estaba creciendo" which should equal "Cuando yo crecía." But as the native speakers in this thread have made clear, Spanish just doesn't like it that way. So we should all just except it and do as they suggest, e.g., use "Cuando yo era joven" or "De niño" or something similar, and thereby avoid the problem altogether.

A ver, ¿qué opinan ustedes los nativos?


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## Fiorentinus

Es exactamente lo que le estoy tratando de decir, simplemente no se dice "cuando yo crecía". Thanks for clearing up the confusion chacahua!


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## Quique Alfaro

Hola:

_En ciertos contextos_ es posible usar _crecer_ en imperfecto o indefinido introducidos por *cuando*.

_No había prácticamente jóvenes en el pueblo, cuando los chicos crecían se iban._

_De chico nunca me dejaron tener perro, sólo cuando crecí pude adoptar uno._


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## chacahua

Quique Alfaro said:


> Hola:
> 
> _En ciertos contextos_ es posible usar _crecer_ en imperfecto o indefinido introducidos por *cuando*.
> 
> _No había prácticamente jóvenes en el pueblo, cuando los chicos crecían se iban._



¡Muy buen punto! Así no dices _Cuando estaban creciendo_, sino *when the kids grew up, they left* o *as the kids would grow up, they would leave*. Otro uso del imperfecto - un uso que a mí, por lo menos, me suena muy bien.


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## Fiorentinus

Concuerdo!


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## Quique Alfaro

Hola:

Pero también es posible con "estaban creciendo/crecían".

_Lamento no haber podido estar más con ellos cuando crecían/estaban creciendo, pero yo trabajaba catorce horas por día y casi no los veía.

Cuando estaba creciendo le compraba siempre ropa más grande para que le durara más._


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## Fiorentinus

La primera oración YO no la diría... La segunda si está perfecta. Bueno, se ve que hay excepciones


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## Yacamaca

Thank you so much all for all your help!!

So I guess the two words cuando and crecer do not like each other, like saying "At the moment I grew up, we had a dog.". Now I can see that.

But it is interesting, cause I thought cuando was the main reason it became preterite, but obviosuly you can say "Cuando yo era nino" and "Cuando yo veia sus ojos siempre me puse alegre.".

"but to me "when I grew up, we had a dog" isn't grammatically correct english"
No you can say this. If you google "When I grew up, we" you get over 5 million results.

Thanx to all, I´ll probably be back with similar concerns very soon  Chao!


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## Cento

De acuerdo con Quique. Además:

   if we say “cuando” generally, “Cuando llegaste... / Cuando salió el sol... / Cuando la vi...”  means at the moment or just after “When you arrived... / When the sun rose.. / When I saw her...” And “Cuando crecí...”sounds like “at the moment or just after you became taller than before” and it doesn't make sense. But there is another way to use this tense. You can use it to say that something finished, stop to be true, a situation change...  and then another thing happens. Of course, we can use “crecí” but because the meaning of this verb and the meaning of “cuando” we need to have talked before about earlier times:  


“Mientras yo era pequeño mi barrio era muy silencioso pero cuando crecí abrieron muchos bares y se lleno de gente ruidosa.”

 “While I was child my neighbourhood was very silent but when I grew up were opened up many bars there and it crowded with noisy people.”


"Cuando era/mientras fui un bebe a mis padres no les gustaba tener animales en casa, pero cuando crecí tuvimos un perro".  

 “When/While I was a baby my parents didn't like to have animals at home, but when I stopped being a baby / I grew up we had a dog”.  

 In the first sentence “crecí” entails that I stopped being a child (pequeño). In the second one “crecí” means that I stopped to be a baby but I still was a child.


We can also use past imperfect:

 “Cuando crecía me compraban unos pantalones nuevos”. But you must note that “crecía” doesn't mean “when I was growing up”. Here there are two actions linkened and the sentence means  that “When I was child, every time I grew /I became taller my parents bought me a pair of trousers”. In the same way you can use past imperfect to mean that two actions happened simultaneous and repeatedly (1) or how you said before “is used when something is done over along time” (2):

 1. “Me abrazaba siempre que nos veíamos.” She/he embraced me every time we meet.

 2. “Conducía por toda Europa” She/he drove all over Europe.


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## Fiorentinus

Yacamaca said:


> "but to me "when I grew up, we had a dog" isn't grammatically correct english"
> No you can say this. If you google "When I grew up, we" you get over 5 million results.



I personally would *never* say such a thing. I think you're attempting to say "when I was growing up we had a dog". That would be grammatically correct, not "when I grew up we had a dog". If anything, I would say "when I grew up (as in turned 18 or reached adulthood) we *got/bought* a dog." Or even "*While *growing up we had a dog". The sentence just doesn't make sense as it is.  

And just because it's on the internet doesn't mean it's right.


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## k-in-sc

"when I grew up, we had a dog" 
7 results (0.26 seconds)  
And two of them are from an interview with somebody from Ethiopia ...


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## stuartshaw.cfc

To my ears "when I grew up, we had a dog" sounds unusual too- "when I was growing up" sounds better and is what I would say, *but "when I grew up, we had a dog" is not wrong in the UK. *At least  not for me (a native speaker). It very much depends on the context. I guess it might be wrong in some other countries like the US. 

Edit: The phrase "when I was growing up" just refers to your childhood; whereas "when I grew up" seems to add something, but I can't quite put my finger on what. That's why it seems to be unusual with "we had a dog". If I change the sentence to: "when I grew up, the cold war was in full swing," then suddenly it seems totally normal. With, "when I grew up, we had a dog," I almost have the feeling that you are commenting on changing times or something. Something like: "what do you mean dogs are stupid pets?" "We had a dog when I grew up!"


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## Fiorentinus

k-in-sc said:


> "when I grew up, we had a dog"
> 7 results (0.26 seconds)
> And two of them are from an interview with somebody from Ethiopia ...



Furthermore, if you look up "when I was growing up, we had a dog" (quotation marks included), you get over 12 pages of results... "when I grew up we had a dog" is not correct. 



> If I change the sentence to: "when I grew up, the cold war was in full swing," then suddenly it seems totally normal. With, "when I grew up, we had a dog," I almost have the feeling that you are commenting on changing times or something. Something like: "what do you mean dogs are stupid pets?" "We had a dog when I grew up!"



Hm, that still doesn't sound right to me to be honest. I would still say "when I was growing up/while (I was) growing up, the cold war was in full swing". As well as "what do you mean dogs are stupid pets?" "We had a dog when I was growing up!". At least in America it's considered wrong to simply say "we had a dog when I grew up".


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## stuartshaw.cfc

Fiorentinus said:


> "when I grew up we had a dog" is not correct.



It is certainly restricted to certain contexts and I guess probably a highly marked form semantically; but on this thread there are two native speakers from different parts of the world independently saying that it is *not* wrong.



Fiorentinus said:


> Hm, that still doesn't sound right to me to be honest. I would still say "when I was growing up/while (I was) growing up, the cold war was in full swing".



In most contexts so would I, but:  *when I was growing up, the Cold War was in full swing ≠ when I grew up the Cold War was in full swing.

*The first sentence is only about my childhood (when I was growing up); the second is about more than just that. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but here's an illustrative example (a headline from a London newspaper*):

*When I grew up in Tottenham, we stole sweets; now it's revenge shootings.
*
* _The London Evening Standard 9th Aug 2011
_
As you can see, the title is about more than just his childhood; it's about changing times.


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## Fiorentinus

stuartshaw.cfc said:


> but on this thread there are two native speakers from different parts of the world independently saying that it is *not* wrong.



Really? I only see one. Yourself. And just because my native language doesn't say english doesn't mean I don't speak it well. As a matter of fact, I've been speaking it for about 15 years (I'm 18) as I grew up in english speaking countries. I would even go as far as to say that my english is better than my spanish at this point seeing that I only speak the latter at home and nowhere else, unlike english, which I speak with pretty much everyone. SO now that you can no longer belittle my english, let's get back to the main point. In the United States at least, and I imagine pretty much anywhere else besides the UK, it just doesn't make sense to say "when I grew up we had a dog/the cold war was in full swing". Who knows maybe it really is considered correct in the UK but as far as I know it isn't in the US. And like k-in-sc so kindly pointed out, if you google "when I grew up we had a dog" (quotation marks included) you get a mere seven results, two of which are from an interview with some guy from Ethiopia. Seems legitimate, right...? Now compare those seven results to the 12 pages you get when googling "when I was growing up we had a dog". And I'm sorry to say that newspapers *make mistakes*. I've noticed, for example, that some journalists in Italian papers blatantly fail to make use of the subjunctive mood where required. So I wouldn't rely too much on those either!


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## stuartshaw.cfc

I misunderstood, I thought k-in-sc had posted those 7 google results to prove it existed. 7 results for a sentence with such an unusual meaning is more than I would have expected! So one native speaker, then. The point is that "when I grew up" is not a marginal phenomenon at all (at least in the UK) and has a different meaning from "when I was growing up". So while quite an odd sentence, "when I grew up we had a dog" is far from impossible. It only seems odd because it seems to imply that our having a dog is some kind of important event...an unlikely meaning and yet there are still 7 results with google. I don't doubt your level of English, but I know lots of sentences that sound wrong to me that *are *correct English (e.g. "if I was you"), plus lots more that are considered wrong yet used all the time by educated native speakers (e.g. "if I had've in the UK), this last example would not be used in the US but is widespread at all educational levels throughout the UK, so I'm not speaking about dialects here. I don't recall ever belittling your English.


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## stuartshaw.cfc

If you google "when I grew up, I had" you get 5,030,000 results. Looking at the first results you can see the theme: they're not merely describing their childhood, but rather relating some important difference or event. Admittedly some of these are "when I grew up" as a 'future in the past', which all will agree is correct, so 5,030,000 will be an overestimate...nevertheless the structure is a valid one.


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## runacacha

I think that the problem here is what form of the verb tener may be used. To make sense in the first sentence one would have to say "Cuando yo crecí tuvimos un perro", meaning that, while the person was a child they did not have a dog.
With respect to the second sentence it would be correct to say "Cuando yo crecí era muy común tener pelo largo" meaning that, after the person reached adulthood it was common practice to have long hair.
You would not use the other forms.


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## runacacha

Why would be incorrect to say "when I grew up we had a dog" in English? This is perfectly correct! The person is obviously speaking some time after he/she became an adult, and is referring to the time they had a dog.
The other instance, "when I was growing up we had a dog" is also correct. It just means that while he/she was growing they had a dog.


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## Forero

There is apparently a mismatch between "growing up" and "crecer". For one thing, "up" suggests completion, an idea missing from "crecía".

I don't think "When I grew up, we had a dog" is wrong, but "when I grew up" is not the same as "when I was growing".

If I say "when he was running a mile" I mean at some time between the time he started running, intending to run a mile, and the time when he completed the mile, but if I say "when he ran a mile" I usually only mean at the time he completed the mile.

So "when I was growing up" normally refers to any time between when I started growing, destined to grow up, and the time I completed growing up, i.e. when I became an adult. In contrast, "when I grew up" usually only refers to when I became an adult.

Nevertheless, "when he ran a mile" can also be used in retrospect for the whole time he was running the mile, especially if he did it more than once ("when he ran a mile" = "when he ran a mile that time" or "whenever he ran a mile", for example), or as a shorter way to say "when he had run a mile", referring to any time after he completed the mile.

I do think the same possibilities exist for "when I grew up".





stuartshaw.cfc said:


> _When I was growing up, the Cold War was in full swing._≠ _When I grew up the Cold War was in full swing._
> 
> The first sentence is only about my childhood (when I was growing up); the second is about more than just that. I can't quite put my finger on what it is,


I am not sure what you mean here either.





> but here's an illustrative example (a headline from a London newspaper*):
> 
> _When I grew up in Tottenham, we stole sweets; now it's revenge shootings._
> * The London Evening Standard 9th Aug 2011
> 
> As you can see, the title is about more than just his childhood; it's about changing times.


To me, this telegraphic language is telescoped language meaning something like "I grew up in Tottenham. Back then we proved ourselves when we stole sweets, but now kids prove themselves by revenge shootings." The headline makes sense, so it is not a mistake.


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## Fiorentinus

I still stand by what I said... look, "when I grew up, we *had* a dog"= cuando crecí tuvimos/teníamos un perro. 

Tuvimos en este caso está mal no por el tiempo verbal sino porque en esta instancia significaría que ellos dieron luz a un perro... En todo caso sería, *como ya dije en un post previo*, cuando crecí nos *compramos/conseguimos* un perro (así si estaría bien) pero no se puede usar el indefinido del verbo tener. Si se puede, de todos modos, usar el indefinido como sugirió Forero con su metáfora de la carrera! (Nunca dije que no se pudiera ya que había dado el ejemplo de cuando crecí conseguimos un perro).

Teníamos funcionaría, pero para hacerlo, ese "grew up" tendría que significar una acción concreta que sucedió mientras la otra estaba sucediendo. O sea, cuando yo crecí (me hice mayor de edad = cumplí 18) teníamos un perro = teníamos un perro cuando yo cumplí 18. Así si estaría bien, y eso también *ya lo dije* en previous posts. Pero acá parece ser que ellos están tratando de decir otra cosa... no estan tratando de decir "cuando yo me hice mayor de edad teníamos un perro" sino "cuando era chico (o estaba creciendo literally translated) teníamos un perro." Para que esta oración tenga *ESE *sentido que están buscando no se puede decir "when I grew up" (porque eso es una acción concreta, que sería la de hacerse mayor de edad) se tiene que decir "when I was growing up".

Es por *eso* que estoy diciendo que se están equivocando, y me disculpo porque me doy cuenta que hasta ahora no me he explicado muy bien. La frase "when I grew up we had a dog" TIENE sentido si lo que estas tratando de decir es "when I became an adult we had a dog" = "we had a dog when I became an adult". But seeing that this ISN'T what they're trying to express (que sería cuando era chico, y estaba creciendo, teníamos un perro) the phrase does not make sense. 

When I grew up in Tottenham, we stole sweets = cuando crecí en Tottenham, *robábamos/robamos* caramelos. Again, it's WRONG unless the idea you're trying to express is "when I grew up (became an adult) in Tottenham we _stole (imperfect and preterite sense)_ sweets" = "cuando cumplí 18 robábamos/robamos caramelos". But seeing that what you're trying to express in that phrase is "during my childhood" = "while growing up" we stole sweets and *not* "when I became an adult" you CANNOT say "when I grew up in Tottenham we stole sweets" you would instead have to say "while growing up in Tottenham we stole sweets" unless of course you were referring to the fact that you stole sweets when you turned 18. 

Please tell me I'm making myself clear this time. Do you realize why your phrases are wrong in the context your trying to give them?


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## chacahua

Regarding all the controversy over "When I grew up," it might be helpful to throw in that what we normally say instead is one of the following:
Once I grew up...
After I grew up...
Once I had grown up...
After I had grown up...​
I understand that some people at some times (even smart people, even in newspapers!) (mis)use "When I grew up" as being synonymous with "When I was growing up," and that it is certainly no crime against the English language to do so. Like many others, and for the exact reasons that Fiorentinus just laid out, I personally don't like it.

*BUT.................
*

What about this sentence,
When I went to high school, things were a lot different.​
For all the same reasons, this sentence should be incorrect, and maybe it is. But you could argue that *went* simply translates as *iba*. After all, this is done all the time:
When I was in high achool, I went to the swimming pool all the time in the summer.
Cuando estaba en la prepa, iba a la piscina...​
So, by the same logic, could *grew up* be acting as a verb in the _imperfect_ tense, as opposed to the preterite?
Maybe I'm just trying too hard here, and I absolutely _love _Fiorentinus' logical case, but I do think the points here should be factored in some way or another.

Sorry to stir up the pot, if that's what I've done...


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## Fiorentinus

EXACTLY my point, *when I grew up = once I grew up *--> when I grew up we had a dog = once I grew up we had a dog. It doesn't make sense! But anyways I agree, it may be used by people but I still don't agree with it. It's just one of those things that people say so much that it becomes accepted in a way!


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## chacahua

Just made a major revision to my post #28. I think it makes sense, but does anyone else...?


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## Fiorentinus

Hmmm, I guess you could argue that, except that I've never seen the imperfect of the verb "to grow up" expressed as "(when) I grew up", the imperfect in this case seems to always be expressed with the past continuous "(when) I was growing up"... I guess you could argue that but it sounds rather bizarre, doesn't it? At least to me since I feel like we don't usually express the "imprefect" sense of this verb in the same way as other verbs like "was" or "had". Interesting point


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## chacahua

Fiorentinus said:


> Hmmm, I guess you could argue that, except that I've never seen the imperfect of the verb "to grow up" expressed as "(when) I grew up", the imperfect in this case seems to always be expressed with the past continuous "(when) I was growing up"... I guess you could argue that but it sounds rather bizarre, doesn't it? At least to me since I feel like we don't usually express the "imprefect" sense of this verb in the same way as other verbs like "was" or "had". Interesting point



I completely agree, once again, for all the reasons you've layed out so well. It's just that the point came to me, and for the sake of intellectual honesty I had to bring it up. And regarding your point about some verbs just not being used normally in the _imperfect_ sense, _grow up_ certainly seems to fit that description, and I don't like its being used as such, and it does sound bizarre, but oh well! I don't know about you, but I hope to never look at this thread again! It started out kind of interesting and fun, and went straight downhill from there.

Un saludo!


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## Fiorentinus

Amen! Saludos a vos también


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