oían

Oían is a verb form in Spanish, specifically the imperfect tense of the verb oír in the third-person plural or second-person plural. Oír means to hear, listen to, or perceive sound. In the imperfect, oír is used to describe past actions that were ongoing, habitual, or background events. Therefore, oían can be translated as "they heard" or "you (plural) were hearing," depending on the subject.

The stem of oír changes in the present tense (oigo, oyes, oye, oímos, oís, oyen), but in the imperfect it follows a regular pattern: oía, oías, oía, oíamos, oíais, oían. The accent on the i in oían helps indicate the stress and distinguishes it from other forms. The form oían is used with plural subjects: ellos oían, ellas oían, ustedes oían, and in Spain, vosotros oíais would be the corresponding second-person plural imperfect form, while in many Latin American varieties ustedes oían is common.

Usage examples:

- Ellos oían música desde la casa al final de la calle. (They were hearing music from the house at the end of the street.)

- Cuando era niño, oían historias de sus abuelos todas las noches. (When I was a child, they used to hear their grandparents’ stories every night.)

- Dijeron que oían pasos cerca de la puerta. (They said they heard footsteps near the door.)

Related forms include oír (present: oyen), oí (preterite), and oído (past participle). The imperfect oían is distinct from the preterite oyó/oyeron, which refer to completed past actions.