Describe what was happening in the past
To say what was happening at a past moment, Spanish uses estar in the imperfect + the gerund — exactly parallel to English "was/were + -ing".
Estaba hablando. (I was talking.)
Estaban comiendo. (They were eating.)
¿Qué estabas haciendo? (What were you doing?)
It paints the background scene: an action already in progress, not yet finished.
Fully regular — no surprises
| yo | estaba | I was |
| tú | estabas | you were |
| él / ella / usted | estaba | he / she was |
| nosotros | estábamos | we were |
| vosotros | estabais | you all were |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | estaban | they were |
Note: yo and él/ella share the same form, estaba — context makes the subject clear.
The Spanish -ing form
-ar verbs → -ando: hablar → hablando, estudiar → estudiando
-er / -ir verbs → -iendo: comer → comiendo, escribir → escribiendo
Key irregular gerunds:
| leer | leyendo | reading |
| dormir | durmiendo | sleeping |
| pedir | pidiendo | asking for |
| decir | diciendo | saying |
estaba / estabas / estaban + gerundio
Yo estaba leyendo el periódico. (I was reading the newspaper.)
Los niños estaban jugando en el parque. (The children were playing in the park.)
Estaba lloviendo cuando salí. (It was raining when I went out.)
Use it for an action in progress at a specific past moment:
Anoche a las nueve estaba estudiando. (At nine last night I was studying.)
Background action vs interrupting event
The past continuous sets the scene; the pretérito indefinido is the event that interrupts it — usually introduced by cuando.
Estaba comiendo cuando sonó el teléfono.
(I was eating when the phone rang.)
Cuando llegué a casa, mi hermano estaba viendo la tele.
(When I arrived home, my brother was watching TV.)
Rule of thumb: long background action → estaba + gerundio. Short completed event → indefinido (sonó, llegué, salí).
Traps for English speakers
Watch out for these typical errors when building the past continuous.