Breakdown of La bóveda en la que guardaban el oro era enorme.
ser
to be
en
in / on / at
que
that / than
guardar
to keep
Questions & Answers about La bóveda en la que guardaban el oro era enorme.
Why do we need the la in en la que? Couldn't we just say en que or donde?
For physical locations, you actually have three good options here. en la que (in which) is very common and clearly points back to the feminine noun bóveda. You could also drop the article and say en que, which is a bit more abstract, or simply use donde (where). All three are correct and mean the same thing in this context.
Would it be correct to use en la cual instead of en la que?
Why are both verbs in the imperfect tense (guardaban, era) instead of the preterite?
The imperfect is used here because both verbs are providing background information and describing an ongoing state in the past. guardaban tells us what they habitually used the vault for, and era describes the vault's physical size, which was a constant characteristic rather than a single completed event.
Does guardar always translate to 'kept' in contexts like this, rather than mantener?