cantabas

Cantabas is a conjugated form of the Spanish verb cantar. It represents the second-person singular imperfect indicative, meaning you were singing or you used to sing in the past. The form is built from the stem cant- plus the imperfect ending -abas (cantar -> cantabas). The imperfect tense generally describes ongoing, habitual, or background actions in the past rather than single completed events.

Usage and characteristics:

Cantabas is used to set scenes, describe repeated past actions, or convey actions that occurred over a period of time in the past. It often appears with temporal expressions such as era, mientras, cuando era niño, o antes, and it frequently accompanies descriptions that establish context in narratives or conversational recollections. It contrasts with the preterite tense cantaste, which expresses a completed, a one-time action in the past.

Conjugation overview:

Cantabas follows the regular -ar verb imperfect endings. Full conjugation in the imperfect indicative for cantar is: yo cantaba, tú cantabas, él/ella cantaba, nosotros cantábamos, vosotros cantabais, ellos cantaban.

Example sentences:

Cuando éramos niños, cantabas en la escuela del barrio. A veces cantabas mientras preparaban la cena.

Notes:

Cantabas is used in standard Spanish across dialects, though regional preferences may alter pronouns or formality levels (for example, vosotros cantabais in Spain). It is distinct from cantaste, which denotes a past action viewed as completed.