Agravabais

Agravabais is the second-person plural imperfect form of the Spanish verb agravar, meaning to aggravate or to worsen something. It is used to describe ongoing or habitual actions in the past by the pronoun vosotros, which is the informal plural “you” used in Spain and some other regions. In standard Spanish, the imperfect for vosotros follows the -ar verb pattern, producing forms such as agrabavais or agravabais depending on the exact stem; agravar commonly yields agravabais in practice, though the more typical contemporary form would be agravaban when using ustedes in Latin America.

Etymology and form: Agravar comes from Latin adgravāre, with grav- meaning heavy and the prefix ad- contributing to the sense of making heavier or more burdensome. The imperfect form agravabais results from the regular Spanish -ar verb endings for the vosotros form in the imperfect tense (-abais).

Usage and regional variation: The form appears in literature, historical texts, or spoken Spanish in regions that still use the vosotros form. In many Latin American varieties, where vos is not used, the corresponding imperfect for ustedes is agravaban. The imperfect generally conveys a past action that was ongoing, repeated, or customary.

Examples: Vosotros agravabais la situación al insistir en medidas drásticas. Cuando llegó la noticia, ya agravabais las consecuencias de la tormenta. In everyday modern usage outside Spain, speakers are more likely to use agrababan with ustedes.

Related terms: agravar, empeorar, agravante.