cuidabas

Cuidabas is the second-person singular imperfect indicative form of the Spanish verb cuidar, meaning to take care. It expresses past actions that were habitual, ongoing, or background information in a narrative.

In usage, cuidabas typically describes what you used to do regularly in the past or what was happening over a period of time. It is common with time markers such as cuando, mientras, antes, or a general past context. For example: Cuando éramos niños, tú cuidabas de los perros todos los días. That translates to “When we were kids, you used to take care of the dogs every day.”

Morphology-wise, cuidabas follows the standard imperfect endings for -ar verbs. The infinitive cuidar drops -ar and adds -abas for the second-person singular: cuid- + abas = cuidabas. Other forms in the same conjugation include cuidas (present), cuidaba, cuidábamos, cuidabais, cuidaban. The word carries no accent mark, with the stress on the penultimate syllable as expected for a regular -ar verb in the imperfect.

Examples and nuances: cuidabas can describe routine care, such as tending to someone’s health, supervising children, or looking after belongings, in the past. It contrasts with the present tense cuidas (you take care) and with the preterite cuidaste (you took care) to mark different past aspects.

See also: cuidar, Spanish verb conjugation, imperfect tense.