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Se estaban produciendo muchos muebles cuando se prohibió exportar.

Se estaban produciendo muchos muebles cuando se prohibió exportar.
Many pieces of furniture were being produced when exporting was prohibited.
From Lesson 171:Past impersonal and passive (se)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Se estaban produciendo muchos muebles cuando se prohibió exportar.

Why is it estaban (plural) in se estaban produciendo?
This is the passive se. In Spanish, when you use the passive se to say that something "was being done," the verb matches the thing receiving the action. Since muchos muebles (many pieces of furniture) is plural, the verb must be the plural estaban produciendo (were being produced).
Why is se prohibió singular? Shouldn't it match the plural furniture?
The second clause is a new thought. The thing being prohibited isn't the furniture itself, but the action of exporting (exportar). When an infinitive verb is the subject of a passive se sentence, the conjugated verb is always singular.
Why do we use the imperfect continuous (se estaban produciendo) in the first half, but the preterite (se prohibió) in the second half?
This sentence shows a classic "interrupting action." The imperfect continuous (estaban produciendo) sets the scene with an ongoing background action in the past. The preterite (prohibió) is used for the sudden, completed event that interrupted the status quo.
Could I attach the se to the end of produciendo?
Yes! When you have a compound verb structure like this (a conjugated verb plus a gerund ending in -ndo), you can either put the pronoun before the conjugated verb (se estaban produciendo) or attach it to the end of the gerund (estaban produciéndose). Notice that if you attach it, you need to add an accent mark to keep the spoken stress on the correct syllable.
Why is "exporting" translated as the infinitive exportar instead of exportando?
In English, verbs ending in "-ing" are often used as nouns (like in "exporting was prohibited"). In Spanish, when an action acts as a noun, you must use the infinitive form (exportar), never the -ndo form. The -ndo form is only used for ongoing actions, like in produciendo.

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