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Nosotros no temíamos a los profesores estrictos.

Nosotros no temíamos a los profesores estrictos.
We did not fear the strict teachers.
From Lesson 110:Imperfect of regular -er and -ir verbs (-ía)·Spanish (Latin America)

Breakdown of Nosotros no temíamos a los profesores estrictos.

el profesor
the teacher
no
no, not
nosotros
we
a
to
temer
to fear
estricto
strict

Questions & Answers about Nosotros no temíamos a los profesores estrictos.

Why is the imperfect tense used here (temíamos) instead of the preterite (temimos)?
The imperfect tense is used for ongoing, habitual, or background states in the past. Here, fearing the teachers wasn't a one-time event that started and ended; it was a general attitude or ongoing state of mind over a period of time.
Why does temíamos have an accent mark on the letter 'i'?
For regular -er and -ir verbs in the imperfect tense, every single form has an accent mark on the í in its ending (like -ía, -ías, -íamos). This ensures you put the spoken stress on that letter.
What is the word a doing in the phrase temíamos a los profesores?
This is the personal a. In Spanish, when the direct object of a verb is a specific person (or a group of people, like los profesores), you must put the word a right before it. It does not translate to anything in English.
Would I still use a if they feared something that wasn't a person?
No, you wouldn't. The verb temer (to fear) does not automatically require a after it. If you were talking about fearing a thing, like a storm, you would just say temíamos la tormenta without the personal a.

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