practicaban

Practicaban is the imperfect indicative form of the Spanish verb practicar for the third-person plural. It corresponds to English phrases such as “they were practicing” or, in contexts with ustedes, “you all were practicing.” The imperfect tense in Spanish is used for past actions that were habitual, repeated, or ongoing at a time in the past, without specifying a definite beginning or end.

Examples illustrate its use in past routines or ongoing activities. For instance: “Cuando eran niños, practicaban todos los días.” and “En la década de 1990, practicaban en el club de fútbol por las tardes.” The form is built from the verb stem practic- plus the imperfect endings -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, -aban, yielding the specific form practicaban for the third-person plural.

Etymology and related forms: practicar derives from the French pratiquer, which in turn comes from Latin practicare and Greek praktikos, through historical development of the Romance languages. This lineage explains the regular, non-derivative spelling of the imperfect form practican.

See also: practicar, conjugation of Spanish verbs, imperfect tense.