Comunicábamos

Comunicábamos is the first-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Spanish verb comunicar, meaning to communicate. It is used to describe ongoing or habitual communication in the past by nosotros or nosotras.

Morphology and tense: The form comes from the stem comunic- plus the imperfect ending -ábamos, characteristic of regular -ar verbs. The accent on the a in comunicábamos signals the stressed syllable, following standard Spanish orthography. As an imperfect tense form, it conveys actions that were in progress, repeated, or set the background in past narratives.

Usage and nuance: The imperfect tense expresses past actions without focusing on their beginning or end. Comunicábamos can indicate that the act of communicating was ongoing during a period, that it occurred repeatedly over time, or that it provided background information for another past event. It often appears in storytelling, historical accounts, or descriptions of routine practices.

Examples:

- Cuando éramos niños, comunicábamos nuestras ideas a través de cartas y, más tarde, por teléfono. (When we were children, we were communicating our ideas through letters and later by telephone.)

- En aquella época, nosotros comunicábamos las noticias a la comunidad cada tarde. (At that time, we were communicating the news to the community every afternoon.)

Contrast with other tenses: Comunicamos (preterite) would indicate a completed act of communication, while comunicábamos emphasizes duration or repetition. The verb’s etymology traces to Latin communicare, meaning to share or join together, reflecting its core meaning.

See also: Comunicar, Conjugation of Spanish verbs, Imperfect tense.