Modern Spanish Grammar: A Practical Guide

Nos visitaban muy a menudo.

They used to visit us very often.

 17.3.1 (p. 74)

73.9.2 Imperfect of soler+ infinitive

Past habits can also be referred to with this construction carrying the imperfect of soler

(e.g. solía, ‘I used to’), which is less frequent and less colloquial than the one above. Its

occurrence seems to be more common in writing, especially in a narrative context.

Ella solía llegar muy tarde.

She used to arrive very late.

Solíamos levantarnos a las 6.00.

We used to get up at 6.00.

Solía cerrar con llave todas las puertas.

I/he/she used to lock all the doors.

 71.6.2 (p. 402)

73.9.3 Imperfect of acostumbrar+ infinitive

This construction with the imperfect of acostumbrar (e.g. acostumbraba, ‘I/you/he/

she/it used to’) is less frequent than the one with soler, and it is rarely heard in the

spoken language. Like soler, it occurs more often in writing, especially in narrative

contexts.

Yo acostumbraba leer hasta muy tarde.

I used to read until very late.

Acostumbraban dormir la siesta.

They used to have a siesta.

Acostumbrábamos ir a la costa todos los veranos.

We used to go to the coast every summer.

In parts of Latin America, acostumbrar carries the preposition a.

Acostumbraba a dar un paseo por las tardes.

He/she used to go for a walk in the evenings.

 71.6.3 (p. 403)

73.10 Talking about actions which were taking place when

something else happened

73.10.1 Imperfect of estar+ gerund + preterite

To refer to an action which was in progress before some other past event, e.g. ‘We were

sleeping when the burglars broke in’, we use the imperfect of estar (e.g. estaba, ‘I/you/

he/she/it was’) followed by a gerund (e.g. haciendo, ‘doing’). The second event is

expressed with the preterite.

TALKING ABOUT THE PAST 73.10