Catalan can present a past activity with either the simple imperfect—llegia—or the progressive—estava llegint. Both can correspond to English “was reading.” The difference is focus: the simple imperfect normally supplies background, while estar in the imperfect plus a gerund explicitly zooms in on an activity as it was unfolding at a particular past reference point or during a selected interval.
The progressive is therefore useful but marked. English speakers overuse it because English often requires a progressive wherever Catalan is content with the simple imperfect.
Forming the imperfect progressive
Conjugate estar in the imperfect and add an invariable gerund. Only estar agrees with the subject.
| Person | estar | With llegir |
|---|---|---|
| jo | estava | estava llegint |
| tu | estaves | estaves llegint |
| ell / ella / vostè | estava | estava llegint |
| nosaltres | estàvem | estàvem llegint |
| vosaltres | estàveu | estàveu llegint |
| ells / elles / vostès | estaven | estaven llegint |
A les nou encara estava revisant el pressupost.
At nine I was still reviewing the budget.
Què estàveu fent quan es va tallar la llum?
What were you doing when the power went out?
Els tècnics estaven instal·lant el programa i no podien reiniciar l'ordinador.
The technicians were installing the program and couldn't restart the computer.
The gerund formation remains independent: parlar → parlant, perdre → perdent, dormir → dormint; fer → fent, dir → dient, veure → veient. It never receives person, number, or gender marking. The written accents in estàvem and estàveu are obligatory.
The Gerund Formation page gives the complete regular and irregular inventory; the choice here is about when to combine that gerund with imperfect estar.
The neutral choice: the simple imperfect
Use the simple imperfect when an activity is simply part of the past background, especially with routines, descriptions, and ordinary simultaneous actions.
Llegia al sofà quan va arribar la Laia.
I was reading on the sofa when Laia arrived.
Mentre jo cuinava, ells paraven taula.
While I was cooking, they set the table.
De jove treballava en una botiga de discos.
When I was young, I worked in a record shop.
Nothing is missing from these sentences. Llegia and cuinava already give an internal view of an activity in progress. Treballava describes a past situation or routine; replacing it with estava treballant would change the focus to a particular unfolding phase.
This is the central source-language contrast: English grammar strongly associates “when X happened” with “was doing,” but Catalan does not need an auxiliary to express that background relation.
When estava plus gerund earns its place
Choose the progressive when the unfolding phase itself matters: someone is being interrupted, an activity is visibly underway, a duration is under scrutiny, or the speaker narrows attention to what was happening at one selected moment.
La directora no us podia atendre: estava parlant amb una clienta.
The manager couldn't see you: she was talking to a customer.
En aquell moment estàvem baixant les caixes per l'escala.
At that moment we were carrying the boxes down the stairs.
Feia dues hores que estaven discutint i encara no s'havien posat d'acord.
They had been arguing for two hours and still hadn't reached an agreement.
The progressive does not assert that the activity was completed. Estaven discutint opens the process around the reference point; it says nothing by itself about when the argument ended. “Bounded scene” here means that the discourse selects a frame such as en aquell moment or durant la reunió, not that the progressive supplies a completed endpoint.
Interruption contexts: both are possible
An interruption does not mechanically require the progressive. The simple imperfect is usually the unmarked form; the progressive creates a closer camera angle.
| Form | Effect | Example |
|---|---|---|
| simple imperfect | activity as narrative background | Em dutxava quan vas trucar. |
estava
| explicitly inside the activity | M'estava dutxant quan vas trucar. |
Escrivia un missatge quan el mòbil es va apagar.
I was writing a message when my phone switched off.
Estava escrivint-te un missatge quan el mòbil es va apagar.
I was in the middle of writing you a message when my phone switched off.
The second version makes the interrupted process more salient. It does not move the activity further into the past or guarantee that the message was ever finished.
Activities, achievements, and states
The progressive is most natural with dynamic verbs that can unfold over time: treballar, esperar, parlar, construir. With a near-instantaneous verb, it normally creates a preparatory or repeated reading: estava arribant means the arrival was in its final phase, not that a completed arrival continued.
Stative verbs generally resist the progressive in their ordinary meanings. Use sabia la resposta, tenia gana, volia marxar, and coneixia el barri, not English-shaped estava sabent, estava tenint gana, estava volent marxar, or estava coneixent el barri. A verb can allow a progressive in a dynamic sense: estava coneixent molta gent nova means “was meeting/getting to know many new people.”
No sabia que m'estaves esperant a fora.
I didn't know you were waiting for me outside.
The state sabia takes the simple imperfect; the deliberate ongoing activity m'estaves esperant comfortably takes the progressive.
Weak pronoun placement and negation
Weak pronouns have two standard positions: before finite estar or attached to the gerund. With negation, no comes before a preverbal cluster.
L'estava buscant pertot arreu.
I was looking for it everywhere.
Estava buscant-lo pertot arreu.
I was looking for it everywhere.
No m'ho estaven explicant gaire bé.
They weren't explaining it to me very well.
No estaven explicant-m'ho gaire bé.
They weren't explaining it to me very well.
Both positions are standard. Do not place a free pronoun between the auxiliary and gerund: estava el buscant is impossible. Enclitic clusters require the normal hyphens and apostrophes: explicant-m'ho.
Contrast with va estar plus gerund
The imperfect progressive views an ongoing phase from inside. Va estar + gerund packages a stretch of activity as a bounded completed interval.
Quan vaig arribar, plovia i la brigada estava treballant al carrer.
When I arrived, it was raining and the crew was working in the street.
La brigada va estar treballant al carrer tota la nit i va acabar a les sis.
The crew worked in the street all night and finished at six.
The first sentence supplies background. The second closes the working interval with tota la nit and va acabar. Do not confuse va estar treballant with lexical anar a + infinitive: the periphrastic past contains no a.
Mini-dialogue
—Per què no vas contestar? —Cuinava. —Només cuinaves? T'he trucat tres cops. —D'acord: estava intentant salvar una salsa i tenia les mans ocupades.
—Why didn't you answer? —I was cooking. —You were just cooking? I called three times. —All right: I was trying to save a sauce, and my hands were full.
The first answer uses neutral background cuinava. The expanded answer chooses estava intentant because the speaker now focuses the difficult process underway at that moment.
Regional and register notes
The contrast between a simple imperfect and estar + gerund is shared across contemporary Catalan varieties. The standard imperfect of estar—estava, estaves, estava, estàvem, estàveu, estaven—is broadly common. Local speech may show phonetic or morphological variants (regional: Northern Catalan and other local varieties; informal), but neutral edited usage keeps the paradigm above.
The progressive is normal in conversation and writing when its aspectual focus is useful. Repeating it in (formal) prose can produce heavy, translation-shaped sentences; a simple imperfect is often clearer when the activity merely supplies background. The issue is not a ban on the progressive but disciplined choice.
Mood still depends on assertion. Sabia que estaves treballant asserts the ongoing activity; Dubtava que estiguessis treballant questions it and therefore uses the imperfect subjunctive of estar. The word que alone decides nothing.
Common Mistakes
1. Using the progressive for a routine.
❌ Quan era estudiant, estava anant a classe amb bicicleta cada dia.
Unnatural as a neutral daily habit.
✅ Quan era estudiant, anava a classe amb bicicleta cada dia.
When I was a student, I went to class by bicycle every day.
2. Copying the Spanish auxiliary spelling.
❌ Estaba esperant l'autobús quan em vas veure.
Incorrect — Catalan writes estava with v.
✅ Estava esperant l'autobús quan em vas veure.
I was waiting for the bus when you saw me.
3. Making the gerund agree.
❌ Les nenes estaven jugantes al pati.
Incorrect — Catalan gerunds are invariable.
✅ Les nenes estaven jugant al pati.
The girls were playing in the playground.
4. Putting a pronoun between estar and the gerund.
❌ Estava el llegint quan vas entrar.
Incorrect pronoun position.
✅ L'estava llegint quan vas entrar. / Estava llegint-lo quan vas entrar.
I was reading it when you came in.
5. Using a progressive with an ordinary state.
❌ Estava sabent la resposta, però no deia res.
Incorrect — saber is stative in this meaning.
✅ Sabia la resposta, però no deia res.
I knew the answer, but I wasn't saying anything.
Key Takeaways
The simple imperfect is Catalan's neutral way to give past background, even where English says “was/were + -ing.” Use estava + gerund to foreground an unfolding phase, interruption, selected moment, or scrutinized duration. Conjugate only estar, keep the gerund invariable, and place weak pronouns either before the auxiliary or attached to the gerund.
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Start learning Catalan →Related Topics
- Uses of the ImperfectA2 — Use the Catalan imperfect for past habits, background scenes, simultaneous situations, age and time, polite distancing, and unreal play.
- Simple Present or Estar plus GerundA2 — Choose between the neutral Catalan simple present and estar plus gerund when an action is unfolding now or over a limited period.
- Forming the GerundA2 — Form regular and irregular Catalan gerunds, pronounce their stress correctly, and attach weak pronouns without adding person endings.
- Progressive Periphrases with the GerundA2 — Choose among estar, anar, continuar, and seguir plus a gerund, and avoid nonstandard aspectual venir plus gerund.
- Periphrastic Past versus ImperfectB1 — Choose between vaig parlar and parlava by reading event boundaries, narrative foreground, habits, completed counts, and viewpoint.
- Overusing Estar plus GerundA1 — Replace English-driven progressive forms with the Catalan simple present or imperfect unless an unfolding process is genuinely in focus.