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estudiábamos

Estudiábamos is the imperfect indicative form of the Spanish verb estudiar for the first-person plural, corresponding to “we studied” or “we used to study” in English. Estudiar is a regular -ar verb, and its imperfect form for the nosotros/nosotras subject is estudiábamos.

In Spanish, the imperfect tense expresses past actions without focusing on a definite beginning or end. It

Conjugation pattern indicates its regular nature: the stem estud- combined with the imperfect ending -ábamos yields

Usage in real language spans literature, journalism, and everyday speech, often in descriptions of past routines,

is
often
used
for
habitual
or
repeated
actions
in
the
past,
or
to
set
the
scene
and
describe
ongoing
circumstances
in
narrative.
Therefore,
estimations
like
“estudiábamos
todos
los
días”
can
convey
a
routine
in
the
past,
while
“estudiábamos
cuando
sucedió”
situates
the
action
as
background
to
another
event.
The
form
is
used
with
both
masculine
and
feminine
plural
subjects
(nosotros
or
nosotras);
the
verb
ending
does
not
change
with
gender
in
this
tense.
estudiábamos.
Other
subject
pronouns
form
related
imperfect
endings:
yo
estudiaba,
tú
estudiabas,
él/ella
estudiaba,
vosotros
estudiabais,
ellos
estudiaban.
Distinguishing
imperfect
from
the
preterite
is
important:
the
preterite
estu-dudimos
would
imply
a
completed
action,
whereas
estudiábamos
emphasizes
duration
or
repetition
in
the
past.
educational
settings,
or
background
details.
Examples
include:
“Cuando
éramos
jóvenes,
estudiábamos
en
la
biblioteca
cada
tarde”
and
“Mientras
estudiábamos
para
el
examen,
llegaron
noticias.”
Estudiábamos
thus
functions
as
a
versatile
tool
for
expressing
past
continuity
and
habituality
in
Spanish.