Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Enquanto o ladrão estava a roubar o banco, ela estava a conduzir. - While the thief was robbing the bank, she was driving.

Enquanto o ladrão estava a roubar o banco, ela estava a conduzir.

While the thief was robbing the bank, she was driving.

Breakdown of Enquanto o ladrão estava a roubar o banco, ela estava a conduzir.

ela

she

estar

to be (temporary / location)

Questions & Answers about Enquanto o ladrão estava a roubar o banco, ela estava a conduzir.

Why do we use the preposition a in estava a roubar?

In European Portuguese, the past continuous is formed by using the imperfect tense of estar (like estava), plus the preposition a, plus the infinitive of the main verb (roubar). It is the standard way to say someone 'was doing' something in Portugal.

Could we use the regular imperfect verbs roubava and conduzia here instead?

Yes, you could say Enquanto o ladrão roubava o banco, ela conduzia. Both ways can translate to 'was robbing' and 'was driving'. But using estava a + infinitive puts a stronger emphasis on the actions being actively in progress at that exact moment.

Does the word enquanto require us to use this continuous structure?

Enquanto means 'while'. It doesn't strictly require the estar a structure, but they pair together perfectly! When describing simultaneous past actions, the past continuous is a very natural choice to follow enquanto.

How would this sentence change if the thief were a woman?

You would need to change o ladrão to its feminine form, which is a ladra. Nouns ending in -ão often have tricky, irregular feminine forms to memorize!