Abiertas vs. abría

Question

I am confused with how the word open and closed are translated in the following sentence (I am a beginner and we are learning the imperfect tense):

The windows were open, but the door was closed. Las ventanas estaban abiertas, pero la puerta estaba cerrada.

Why wouldn't you use abría instead of abiertas and cerraba instead of cerrada? So confused. Thanks in advanced for your help!

Answer 1

Beacuse we're descibing the state of the doors and windows, not the actual action.

Here we are decribing the state or the condition of the door & windows.

Las ventanas estaban abiertas, pero la puerta estaba cerrada.=

The windows were open, but the door was closed.

Here we are describing the actual action.

Se abrían las ventanas, pero se cerraba la puerta.

The windows were being opened, but the door was being closed.

Answer 2

Thank you so much for answering my question. That was a fantastic explanation. This was driving me insane. Much appreciated!

Glad I could help! - BradyLabuda, May 10, 2013