To express that someone had just done something in the past, use the imperfect tense of acabar de followed by an infinitive.
| I had just answered the call. | Acababa de contestar la llamada. |
This structure is perfect for talking about bad timing or sudden interruptions—like trying to make a phone call with a terrible signal.
| I had just answered, but I had to hang up because of the awful Wi-Fi. | Acababa de contestar, pero tuve que colgar por el wifi pésimo. |
Conjugating "acabar de" in the past
To form this, conjugate acabar in the imperfect tense, add de, and leave the action verb in its infinitive form.
| Subject | Imperfect of "acabar" |
|---|---|
| yo | acababa |
| tú | acababas |
| él / ella / usted | acababa |
| nosotros / nosotras | acabábamos |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | acababan |
Notice how this structure sets up a background action that is often immediately interrupted by another past event.
| He had just dialed when you decided to hang up. | Él acababa de marcar cuando decidiste colgar. |
| Since the signal was awful, we had just lost coverage. | Como la señal era pésima, acabábamos de perder la cobertura. |
| The Wi-Fi had just failed during the call. | El wifi acababa de fallar durante la llamada. |
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