estaba

Question

what is estaba? and how is it used?

Answer 1

It is the imperfect tense indicative of the verb "estar". You will need to learn what does this verb means, and how to use the imperfect tense. Check the reference articles, because it is not something that can be explained in a couple of sentences.

Answer 2

The estaba form will always indicate that it happened in the past. It is pretty easy to use with the "ing" form of the verb (called the Gerund) if you memorize only the 3 forms. Estaba Estabamos Estaban The "ing" form is got by adding "ando" to ar verbs or by adding iendo to er and ir verbs after dropping there ar, er, and ir endings.

So: Estaba comiendo, I, he, she, was eating Estaba comiendo, you were eating (same phrase) Estabamos comiendo, we were eating Estaban comiendo, they or you (ustedes) were eating.