Learn Spanish (Latin America): Estábamos corriendo al sótano por el viento. - We were running to the basement because of the wind.

Estábamos corriendo al sótano por el viento.

We were running to the basement because of the wind.

Breakdown of Estábamos corriendo al sótano por el viento.

estar

to be (location/state)

Questions & Answers about Estábamos corriendo al sótano por el viento.

Why use estábamos instead of the preterite estuvimos here?

When forming the past continuous to talk about actions that were in progress in the past, you generally use the imperfect tense of estar. You use estábamos because the running was an ongoing, background action (we were running), not a completed event with a specific start and end.

Why does correr become corriendo?

To make the equivalent of an -ing word (the gerund) for -er and -ir verbs like correr (to run), you drop the ending and add -iendo. If it were an -ar verb, you would add -ando instead.

Why does this sentence use por instead of para?

A great rule of thumb is that por is used to show the cause or reason behind an action. Here, the wind is the reason they are running, so por el viento translates to because of the wind. Para is normally used to show a goal, purpose, or destination.

Why does it say al sótano instead of a el sótano?