acercabas

Acercabas is the second-person singular imperfect indicative form of the Spanish verb acercar, meaning to bring closer or to approach. In this form it expresses an ongoing past action, a past habit, or a background state involving you.

Etymology and forms: acercar comes from a- plus cercar, with cercar related to cerca (near). The imperfect endings for -ar verbs provide the form -abas for tú, so acercabas corresponds to “you were bringing closer” or “you used to bring closer.” Other imperfect forms follow regular -ar conjugation patterns (hablaba, hablabas, etc.).

Usage: The imperfect tense of acercar is used to describe actions that were habitual or not completed in the past, set a scene, or indicate ongoing activity in the past. It can indicate physical movement of bringing something toward a person or place, as well as more figurative senses such as approaching a topic or a person.

Examples: When studying, acercabas el cuaderno a la lámpara para leer mejor. This translates to: “When I was studying, you were bringing the notebook closer to the lamp to read better.” Other contexts might use the form to convey repeated past actions, such as guiding objects toward a location or gradually approaching someone or something over time.

Notes: Acercabas is a regular imperfect form for an -ar verb and should be distinguished from related forms in other tenses or moods, such as acercaras (imperfect subjunctive) or acercar (infinitive). Its meaning relies on context to specify whether the action is physical, communicative, or metaphorical.