Breakdown of Solían destruir los edificios viejos por el progreso, pero no los de ahora.
de
from / of
pero
but
no
no, not
los
the (masculine plural)
viejo
old
ahora
now
el edificio
the building
por
for / by / through / in/during (part of the day)
soler
to usually do / to tend to
destruir
to destroy
el progreso
the progress
Questions & Answers about Solían destruir los edificios viejos por el progreso, pero no los de ahora.
Why does this sentence use solían destruir instead of just the imperfect destruían?
Both mean "they used to destroy," but using the imperfect of soler (solían) combined with an infinitive (destruir) strongly emphasizes the habit or custom. It clearly means "they were in the habit of destroying." You can often use the imperfect tense alone (destruían) to mean the same thing, but solían makes the "used to" meaning unmistakable.
Why do we use por instead of para in por el progreso?
Here, por expresses the cause, reason, or motivation behind the action (destroying buildings because of or for the sake of progress). If you used para, it would sound more like the buildings were destroyed as a physical gift to be given to progress. Remember that por is often used for the "why" or the motive behind an action.
In the phrase pero no los de ahora, what does los refer to?
Why is the subject "they" missing from the beginning of the sentence?
The subject "they" is built into the verb ending of solían. In Spanish, you do not need to state the pronoun (ellos or ellas) if the context makes it clear, or if you are making a general statement about what society or people in general used to do.
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