Portabamus

Portabamus is the Latin imperfect active indicative form of the verb porto, portare, meaning “we were carrying” or “we used to carry.” It is the first-person plural of the imperfect and is used to describe ongoing or repeated actions in the past. The form appears in Classical Latin as well as in later Latin texts.

Morphology and usage: The imperfect tense expresses past action without indicating its completion and is commonly used to set scenes or describe habitual past activities. Portabamus is formed from the present verb stem with the imperfect marker and the appropriate personal ending, yielding portābāmus, which, in non-diacritic spelling, becomes portabamus. The sense varies by context and can contrast with the present portāmus (we carry) or other tenses within the same verb.

Example: Portabamus libros ad scholam. Translation: We were carrying books to the school. Beyond simple narration, the imperfect often conveys background action, customary past behavior, or a scene-setting description in Latin prose and storytelling.