Dedicabas

Dedicabas is a verb form that appears in Latin and the Romance languages Spanish and Portuguese. It is the second person singular imperfect indicative of the verb dedicare in Latin or dedicarse/dedicar in the Romance languages, meaning “you were dedicating” or “you dedicated.”

Etymology: It derives from Latin dedicare, with the imperfect suffix -abas in Latin; in Spanish the form retains -abas, and in Portuguese the corresponding imperfect is dedicavas. The root dedic- comes from the idea of devoting or consecrating.

Usage: In Latin, dedicabas would occur in narrative or inscriptional contexts to express ongoing or repeated dedication by the subject. In Spanish, “Tú dedicabas” can express habitual past action, as in “Tú dedicabas mucho tiempo al estudio.” In Portuguese, “Tu dedicavas” similarly expresses an imperfect action, for example “Tu dedicavas o templo aos deuses.”

Notes: The form is not a modern standalone lexical item but an inflected form used to convey tense and person. Related terms include dedicare (infinitive), dedicatio (the act of dedication), and other tense forms such as dedicabas in different persons or dedicabatis for the plural second person in Latin.