vendían

Vendían is the third-person plural imperfect form of the Spanish verb vender, meaning "to sell." It is used to describe past actions that were ongoing or habitual, rather than completed actions in the past. In English, it is commonly translated as "they were selling" or "they used to sell."

Conjugation and form: For vender, the imperfect endings are -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían. The stem is vend-, yielding vendía, vendías, vendía, vendíamos, vendíais, vendían. The accent appears on the í in vendía and vendían. The full set for the imperfect is: yo vendía, tú vendías, él/ella/usted vendía, nosotros vendíamos, vosotros vendíais, ellos/ellas/ustedes vendían.

Usage and nuances: Vendían expresses habitual past actions or scenes in narrative background. Examples: Los vendedores vendían frutas en la plaza cada mañana. (The vendors were selling fruit in the square every morning.) Cuando era niño, vendían periódicos cerca de la estación. (When I was a child, they used to sell newspapers near the station.) It can also describe ongoing past processes or states, such as una empresa que vendían productos variados, depending on context.

Notes: Vendían contrasts with vendieron, the preterite form that indicates a completed past action. The choice between imperfect and preterite shapes the temporal framing of events in narration, marking whether the selling was ongoing/habitual or a single, finished occurrence.