Breakdown of Hacía diez años que la tienda permanecía cerrada.
la tienda
the store
cerrado
closed
el año
the year
que
that / than
diez
ten
hacer
(of time) for / ago
permanecer
to remain (in a place or state)
Questions & Answers about Hacía diez años que la tienda permanecía cerrada.
Why do we use hacía and permanecía here instead of hace and permanece?
This sentence describes a situation that was ongoing at a certain point in the past. Using hace... que with the present tense (like permanece) would mean the store has been closed for ten years and is still closed today. By using hacía... que with the imperfect tense (permanecía), it means the store had been closed for ten years up until that past moment in time.
Could I just say estaba cerrada instead of permanecía cerrada?
Yes, you absolutely could! Estaba cerrada means "was closed," which works perfectly here. Permanecer means "to remain" or "to stay," so permanecía cerrada is just a slightly more descriptive way to emphasize that it "had remained closed" for all that time.
Why does cerrada end in an "-a"?
Here, cerrada (closed) is a past participle acting as an adjective to describe the state of the store. Since la tienda is a feminine singular noun, the adjective needs to match its gender and number.
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