Question 1

How does estavas a fazer translate to "were you doing"?

Accepted Answer

This is the Portuguese past continuous tense. In Portugal, we build it using the imperfect past tense of estar (here, estavas for the informal "you"), the preposition a, and the infinitive of the main action verb (fazer).

Question 2

Why do we use two different past tenses in this sentence (estavas vs. aconteceu)?

Accepted Answer

We use the past continuous (estavas a fazer) to describe an ongoing background action ("were doing"). We use the simple past for aconteceu because the crime happening was a sudden, completed event that interrupted what you were doing.

Question 3

Why does the sentence start with O que instead of just Que for "What"?

Accepted Answer

When asking "What" as an open question about an action or thing, Portuguese typically uses O que. You can think of it literally as "The what". While just Que exists, O que is the most natural way to start this kind of question.

Question 4

Where is the word for "you" in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

It is built right into the verb! The form estavas is specifically the tu (informal "you") conjugation of estar in the imperfect tense. Because the verb ending makes the subject obvious, the word tu is left out.

O que estavas a fazer quando o crime aconteceu?

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