Estudiábamos

Estudiábamos is the imperfect indicative form of the Spanish verb estudiar for the first-person plural, corresponding to “we studied” or “we used to study” in English. Estudiar is a regular -ar verb, and its imperfect form for the nosotros/nosotras subject is estudiábamos.

In Spanish, the imperfect tense expresses past actions without focusing on a definite beginning or end. It is often used for habitual or repeated actions in the past, or to set the scene and describe ongoing circumstances in narrative. Therefore, estimations like “estudiábamos todos los días” can convey a routine in the past, while “estudiábamos cuando sucedió” situates the action as background to another event. The form is used with both masculine and feminine plural subjects (nosotros or nosotras); the verb ending does not change with gender in this tense.

Conjugation pattern indicates its regular nature: the stem estud- combined with the imperfect ending -ábamos yields estudiábamos. Other subject pronouns form related imperfect endings: yo estudiaba, tú estudiabas, él/ella estudiaba, vosotros estudiabais, ellos estudiaban. Distinguishing imperfect from the preterite is important: the preterite estu-dudimos would imply a completed action, whereas estudiábamos emphasizes duration or repetition in the past.

Usage in real language spans literature, journalism, and everyday speech, often in descriptions of past routines, educational settings, or background details. Examples include: “Cuando éramos jóvenes, estudiábamos en la biblioteca cada tarde” and “Mientras estudiábamos para el examen, llegaron noticias.” Estudiábamos thus functions as a versatile tool for expressing past continuity and habituality in Spanish.