I have a question concerning the verbs "andar" and "trepar"

Question

I' ve a question concerning verbs "andar" and "trepar". I know that they mean "to walk" and "to climb" respectively, but I've found a sentence like: "él andaba trepando por las techos". The question is if it is possible to skip verb "andar" in this sentence and say "él trepaba ....." or "andar" is in some way a substitute for "estar" in this case ? If it is why it is possible ?

"they means". " Means" with the s at the end is used for singular nouns. Since your noun is plural "they" the correct verb conjugation is "mean" without the s. Here at sd we encourage correct grammar. - El_Hitch, Sep 16, 2010

Answer 1

You are right!

Andaba here means "was climbing"

It is just a colloquialism. Your question is fully justified and it is understandable.

It could be said, as you well have pointed:

"él estaba trepando por los techos" or "él trepaba por los techos"

and in fact, this is more correct.

Answer 2

It is similar to the difference in English between "they were climbing up the tree" and "they went climbing up the tree." The sentences mean pretty much the same thing, but Spanish uses a greater variety of words to substitute for "to be" than English.

Answer 3

Actually I believe that andar in front of a gerund (present participle) means that someone goes around doing something continuously (in this care climbing around the roofs) with a slightly negative connotation. It is another way to form the imperfect progressive tense.