Learn Spanish (Latin America): Como la señal era pésima, acabábamos de perder la cobertura. - Since the signal was awful, we had just lost coverage.

Como la señal era pésima, acabábamos de perder la cobertura.

Since the signal was awful, we had just lost coverage.

Breakdown of Como la señal era pésima, acabábamos de perder la cobertura.

since / because (at the beginning of a sentence)

Questions & Answers about Como la señal era pésima, acabábamos de perder la cobertura.

Why does acabábamos de perder mean "we had just lost" instead of "we just lost"?

In the present tense, acabamos de perder means "we just lost". But in this sentence, acabar is in the imperfect past tense (acabábamos). Using the imperfect of acabar de plus an infinitive creates a past resultative meaning, which translates to "had just" done something before another past event.

Why start the sentence with Como instead of Porque to say "Since" or "Because"?

In Spanish, you generally cannot start a sentence with Porque to introduce a reason unless you are answering a direct question. When the cause comes before the result at the very beginning of a sentence, you must use Como.

Why use the imperfect tense era instead of the preterite fue for "was"?

We use the imperfect era here because it describes a background condition or sets the scene in the past. The signal being awful is an ongoing state at that moment, rather than a completed event with a clear beginning and end.

Is pésima just another word for bad?

It is stronger than just bad (mala). Pésima is an absolute superlative that means "awful," "terrible," or "the absolute worst." Because it already implies "very bad," you don't need to put muy in front of it.