terminaban

Terminaban is the imperfect past tense form of the Spanish verb terminar, used with third-person plural subjects (ellos, ellas, ustedes). It describes past actions that were ongoing or habitual, without indicating a definite endpoint at a particular moment in the past.

Conjugation and usage: terminar is a regular -ar verb. In the pretérito imperfecto, the endings are -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, -aban. Therefore, terminaban corresponds to ellos/ellas/ustedes. This form contrasts with terminan (present) or terminaron (preterite), which express present or completed past actions, respectively.

Usage notes: Terminaban is commonly employed to describe actions in progress in the past, actions that occurred repeatedly, or to set a background scene in narration. It can also indicate that an action was nearing completion when another event occurred. Examples: “Cuando llegué, terminaban la cena.” “De niños, terminaban sus tareas tarde.” “Ellos terminaban el proyecto cada día a las ocho.” These examples illustrate ongoing or habitual past actions rather than finished events.

Etymology and related forms: Terminaban derives from terminar, which comes from Latin terminare. The imperfect form shows regular morphology for -ar verbs in Spanish, aligning with other subjects as in terminaba, terminabas, terminábamos, terminabais, terminaban.