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Antiguamente, esta ciudad solía tener menos fábricas.

Antiguamente, esta ciudad solía tener menos fábricas.
In the past, this city used to have fewer factories.
From Lesson 167:Past habits (solía)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Antiguamente, esta ciudad solía tener menos fábricas.

Why is soler in the imperfect tense (solía) here instead of the preterite?
Soler means "to usually do" something. When we talk about habits or how things "used to be" in the past, we use the imperfect tense. Solía tener translates to "used to have". You will almost always see soler in the present or the imperfect, because habits are generally ongoing or extended over time, not one-time completed actions.
How does antiguamente mean "in the past"?
It comes from the adjective antiguo, which means "old" or "ancient". Adding -mente turns it into an adverb, similar to adding "-ly" in English. So antiguamente literally means "anciently" or "formerly", and is a very common way to say "in the past" or "in the old days".
Why is it esta ciudad and not este ciudad?
Even though it doesn't end in "-a", ciudad is a feminine noun. A good rule of thumb is that Spanish nouns ending in -dad, -tad, or -ción are almost always feminine. Because it is feminine, it uses the feminine "this", which is esta.
Why doesn't menos change to match the feminine, plural fábricas?
Unlike words such as mucho or poco (which would become muchas or pocas here), the word menos (meaning "less" or "fewer") is invariable. It never changes its ending, regardless of the gender or number of the noun it describes.

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