procurava

Procurava is the imperfect indicative form of the Portuguese verb procurar, which means to search for, look for, seek, or obtain. The imperfect tense expresses past actions that were ongoing, habitual, or background in narration. For example, Ele procurava as chaves pela casa or Eu procurava respostas para a pergunta.

In both European and Brazilian Portuguese, procurava corresponds to eu procurava and ele/ela/você procurava in common usage. The tu form would be procuravas, and nós procurávamos. The infinitive is procurar, the gerund is procurando, and the past participle is procurado. As a regular -ar verb, procurar follows standard conjugation patterns, with the imperfect endings -ava, -avas, -ava, -ávamos, -áveis, -avam.

Usage and nuance: procurava can indicate a search carried out over a period, a repeated action in the past, or a provisional attempt that may have continued or concluded later. It can be combined with complements such as informações, emprego, soluções, or pessoas, yielding phrases like procurar informações (to seek information) or procurar um emprego (to look for a job). The sense shifts with context, from literal searching to more abstract efforts to obtain something.

Etymology and cognates: procurava derives from the verb procurar, which in turn comes from Latin procurare, meaning to take care of in advance; later the sense broadened to include seeking or obtaining. The form is cognate with similar constructions in other Romance languages.