Llegábamos

Llegábamos is the first-person plural (nosotros/nosotras) imperfect indicative form of the Spanish verb llegar, meaning “we were arriving” or “we used to arrive.” It is used to describe ongoing actions in the past, habitual past actions, or actions in progress that occurred in the past. The imperfect contrasts with the preterite form llegamos, which signals a completed past event (we arrived).

Morphology and usage notes: llegábamos is formed from the stem lleg- plus the imperfect ending -ábamos, with an accent on the a in bá to indicate the correct stress. Because it expresses imperfect aspect, it often appears in narrative or descriptive contexts where the past is being described without focusing on a single completed moment. It is distinct from the imperfect subjunctive forms llegáramos/llegásemos, which appear in subordinate clauses and have a different mood.

Common contexts include habitual past routines, setting scenes in storytelling, or describing actions that were in progress when another event occurred. Examples: “Cuando éramos niños, llegábamos tarde a casa todos los días.” “Llegábamos a la estación justo cuando empezó la lluvia.” These illustrate how the imperfect conveys duration or regularity rather than a single endpoint.

Etymology and language notes: llegar is a common Romance-era verb; llegábamos is one of its standard imperfect forms used across Spanish-speaking varieties. Pronunciation and accent placement follow standard Spanish rules, with the stress on the syllable bá in llegábamos.

In contemporary writing, llegábamos remains a frequent choice for describing past dynamics, contrasts with perfective verbs, and for conveying background or setting in narratives.