Breakdown of Yo estaba limpiando el ático de mi abuela.
yo
I
de
from / of
la abuela
the grandmother
estar
to be (location/state)
mi
my
limpiar
to clean
el ático
attic
Questions & Answers about Yo estaba limpiando el ático de mi abuela.
Why use estaba limpiando instead of the simple past limpié?
Estaba limpiando is the past continuous tense, formed with the imperfect of estar and the -ando ending. It is used to describe an action that was ongoing or in progress in the past ("was cleaning"). If you used the preterite limpié, it would mean the action was a single, completed event ("I cleaned").
Is it mandatory to include the subject pronoun yo in this sentence?
How does Spanish handle the apostrophe-'s from the English translation ("grandmother's")?
Spanish never uses an apostrophe-'s for possession. Instead, you always use the preposition de (of). You structure it as "the item + de + the owner", which gives us el ático de mi abuela (literally: the attic of my grandmother).
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