retrasaban

Retrasan is the third-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Spanish verb retrasar. The form is used to describe ongoing or habitual delays in the past, with subjects such as personas, organizaciones, or events that caused something to be late or to progress more slowly than expected. In this sense, retrasar can be used transitively, meaning that something is delayed by someone or something else, or intransitively in contexts where the focus is on the delay itself.

The verb retrasar generally conveys that a process, plan, deadline, or event did not proceed as scheduled and was lengthened by an intervening factor. It is commonly contrasted with synonyms such as demorar (to delay or slow down, with a nuance of temporary postponement), posponer (to postpone to a later time with a future orientation), and tardar (to take longer to do something, often in reference to the duration).

Etymology traces retrasar to the prefix re- combined with tardar, the latter related to the Latin tardus meaning slow. The result is a verb that emphasizes causing something to be late or to fall behind schedule, rather than merely experiencing lateness.

Common contexts include administrative processes, project timelines, and scheduling decisions, where the action of delaying is attributed to a subject in the imperfect past.

See also: retrasar, tardar, demorar, posponer.