Atacaban

Atacaban is a form of the Spanish verb atacar, used in the imperfect indicative tense for the third-person plural subject. In English, it corresponds to “they were attacking,” and in some contexts also to “you (plural) were attacking.” The form is used to describe ongoing or repeated actions in the past, or to set a background scene in narration.

In practical use, atacaban appears in sentences such as “Los defensores atacaban la muralla cada noche” or “Los atacantes atacaban sin cesar.” The imperfect contrasts with the preterite ataque, “atacaron,” which denotes a completed action or a single event in the past.

Form and morphology: atacar is a regular -ar verb. In the imperfect tense, its endings are -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, -aban. Therefore, the third-person plural form is atacaban, formed from the stem atac- plus the ending -aban, with no stem change in this tense.

Etymology and related forms: atacar derives from Spanish roots common to -ar verbs and shares related forms such as atacamos (we attack), atacabas (you [singular informal] attacked), and atacarán (they will attack) in other tenses and moods. The form atacaban specifically marks past imperfect, rather than any other tense or aspect.

See also: Spanish verb conjugation, atagar/ataque, imperfect tense.