empujaban

Empujaban is a Spanish verb conjugation. It is the third-person plural imperfect indicative form of the verb empujar. The verb empujar translates to "to push" in English. Therefore, "empujaban" means "they were pushing" or "they used to push."

The imperfect tense in Spanish is used to describe ongoing actions in the past, habitual actions in the past, or to set the scene for a past event. In the case of "empujaban," it would describe a group of people performing the action of pushing over a period of time in the past, or a repeated action of pushing in the past. For example, "Los niños empujaban la puerta" means "The children were pushing the door" or "The children used to push the door." The context of the sentence would determine the precise meaning.

The imperfect tense is distinct from the preterite tense, which describes completed actions in the past. While "empujaron" would mean "they pushed" (a completed action), "empujaban" implies the action was in progress or happened repeatedly. This distinction is crucial for conveying nuances of time and duration in Spanish.