Breakdown of Él acababa de comprar una baratija de bronce.
él
he
de
from / of
comprar
to buy
una
a, an (feminine)
acabar de
to have just
la baratija
the trinket
el bronce
the bronze
Questions & Answers about Él acababa de comprar una baratija de bronce.
Why is acababa in the imperfect tense here?
The phrase acabar de followed by an infinitive means 'to have just done' something. When used in the present tense (like él acaba de comprar), it means 'he has just bought'. Putting it in the imperfect tense (acababa de comprar) shifts it to the past, meaning 'he had just bought'. It describes the background situation right before another past event happened.
Does the word baratija have anything to do with barato?
Why do we say de bronce instead of having a direct adjective for 'bronze'?
In English, we can just put a material right before a noun ('a bronze trinket'). In Spanish, you almost always use the preposition de (of) plus the name of the material to describe what something is made of. Literally, it translates to 'a trinket of bronze'.
Since the lesson is about using andar + gerund, could we say andaba comprando here?
Not if we want to keep the same meaning! The structure andar + gerund is used for actions someone goes around doing repeatedly or continuously (like andaba comprando for 'he went around buying'). This sentence is about a single action that had just happened, which requires acabar de + infinitive instead.
Learn Él acababa de comprar una baratija de bronce and more in Spanish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free