lavaba

Lavaba is the first-person singular imperfect indicative form of the Spanish verb lavar, meaning to wash. It expresses an ongoing, habitual, or repeated action in the past, or a setting description within a past scene.

In the imperfect tense, lavar is regular for -ar verbs. The full imperfect conjugation is: yo lavaba, tú lavabas, él/ella/usted lavaba, nosotros lavábamos, vosotros lavabais, ellos lavaban. Because it follows regular -ar endings, lavaba does not involve stem changes or irregular mood shifts.

Usage in Spanish centers on past actions without specifying a definite beginning or end. It contrasts with the preterite, which marks completed actions. Examples: “Cuando era niño, lavaba la ropa los domingos” describes a habitual past activity. “Ayer, mientras lavaba la vajilla, sonó el timbre” uses lavaba to indicate an ongoing action interrupted by another event, with a preterite verb (sonó) marking the interruption.

Lavaba also appears in literary and formal narration to set scene or background information, and it is commonly used in subordinate clauses after verbs of perception, desire, or expectation in the past.

Etymology and related forms: lavaba derives from the verb lavar, itself from the Latin lavare. Cognate forms appear in other Romance languages with similar imperfect endings (for example, lavava in Portuguese, lavait in French, lavava in Italian), reflecting shared verb-conjugation patterns across the family.