Hinchaba

Hinchaba is the imperfect indicative form of the Spanish verb hinchar. Hinchar means to cause something to swell or to inflate, to puff up, and can also be used figuratively to mean exaggerating or filling with emotion. In the imperfect tense, hinchaba describes an ongoing or repeated past action, or provides background description in a narrative.

Conjugation in the imperfect indicative (for reference):

yo hinchaba, tú hinchabas, él/ella/usted hinchaba, nosotros hinchábamos, vosotros hinchabais, ellos/ellas/ustedes hinchaban.

Usage notes:

The imperfect is used for actions that were ongoing in the past or repeated over time, and for setting scenes. Hinchar can be transitive (hinchar algo) or intransitive when used reflexively (hincharse), as in swelling of the body or an object. The reflexive form se hincha hincharse is common when describing natural swelling or the act of becoming swollen.

Examples:

- La herida se hinchaba cada vez que la movían. (The wound would swell each time they moved it.)

- Yo hinchaba globos para la fiesta. (I was inflating balloons for the party.)

- El globo se hinchaba con cada soplo de aire. (The balloon was inflating with each breath of air.)

See also:

hinchar, hincharse, with related senses including physical swelling, inflation of objects, and metaphorical uses such as inflating costs or exaggeration.