participabais

Participabais is the second-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Spanish verb participar, meaning “you all participated” or “you all used to participate.” It is formed from the verb stem particip- plus the imperfect ending for the vosotros form of -ar verbs, which is -abais. This form is characteristic of Peninsular Spanish, where the pronoun vosotros is standard; in much of Latin America the corresponding past tense for ustedes would be participaban.

The imperfect tense expresses past actions that were ongoing, habitual, or repeated, without emphasizing their start or end. It is common in narrative or descriptive past contexts and often appears with time references or conjunctions such as cuando, mientras, o antes. Example: “En aquella época, vosotros participabais activamente en las reuniones.” Another example: “Cuando éramos niños, participabais en muchos proyectos comunitarios.”

Related forms and contrasts: participaba (él/ella/usted), participábamos (nosotros), participaban (ellos/ellas/ustedes). The present vosotros form is participáis, and the preterite form is participasteis. The imperfect participabais does not have a separate meaning from these related forms; it simply encodes the vosotros past action in an imperfect aspect.