agravabas

Agravabas is the second-person singular imperfect indicative form of the Portuguese verb agravar. The base verb means to aggravate, worsen, or increase the severity of something, including situations, conditions, or penalties. The form agravabas appears in statements describing ongoing past action addressed to the informal “tu” form in varieties that preserve this pronoun.

Etymology and form: agravar comes from Latin gravare, derived from gravis meaning heavy. The imperfect indicative is used to refer to repeated or continuing past actions, so agravar becomes agravavas/agravavas depending on dialect, with variations in spelling such as agravavas or agravavas in Portuguese orthography. In many Brazilian Portuguese varieties, the second-person singular is less common in speech, and speakers often use the third-person singular form with you, você, in the imperfect (agravava).

Usage: agravar typically appears in contexts where something is made worse or more severe, such as a problem, a situation, or a criminal penalty. It can also be used in legal language, where to aggravate a charge or a penalty is to increase its seriousness. The form agravabas is most directly found in European Portuguese or in dialects that maintain the tu form; in Brazilian Portuguese, you would more commonly hear você agravava for the imperfect.

Examples:

- Se não tomasses cuidado, agravavas a situação.

- O juiz disse que as novas evidências agravavam a pena.

Agravabas is not a standalone concept or proper noun; it is a verb form, part of the regular conjugation of agravar in the imperfect tense.