trabajabais

Trabajabais is the second-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Spanish verb trabajar, used with the pronoun vosotros. It represents an ongoing or habitual action in the past when addressing a group you informal do not use tú.

Form and usage

In the imperfect tense for -ar verbs, the vosotros ending is -abais, so the base trabaj- plus -abais yields trabajabais. This form is used primarily in Spain and in regions where the vosotros form is standard. In many other Spanish-speaking areas, where ustedes are used instead of vosotros, the corresponding imperfect for ustedes is trabajaban.

Grammatical context

Trabajabais conveys past actions without specifying a definite starting or ending point, and it can describe routine activities or a background situation. The subject is often implicit in the verb ending, and the pronoun vosotros is frequently omitted in casual speech.

Example

Trabajabais en la fábrica todos los días. This translates to You all used to work in the factory every day. In Latin American varieties that favor ustedes over vosotros, the typical imperfect for the same idea would be trabajaban.

Related forms

Other imperfect forms of trabajar include trabajaba (él/ella/Ud.), trabajábamos (nosotros), and trabajaban (ellos/ellas/Uds.). The choice between vosotros and ustedes affects which second-person plural form is used in a given variety of Spanish.