Breakdown of Enquanto o ladrão estava a roubar o banco, ela estava a conduzir.
ela
she
estar
to be (temporary / location)
o banco
the bank
o ladrão
the thief
enquanto
while
roubar
to steal
conduzir
to drive
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?
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