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El emperador iba al templo griego.

El emperador iba al templo griego.
The emperor used to go to the Greek temple.
From Lesson 145:Irregular verbs in the imperfect (era, iba, veía)·Spanish (Spain)

Breakdown of El emperador iba al templo griego.

ir
to go
a
to
el templo
the temple
el emperador
the emperor
griego
Greek

Questions & Answers about El emperador iba al templo griego.

Why does the sentence use iba instead of fue?
In Spanish, the imperfect tense is used for repeated, habitual actions in the past. Because the emperor 'used to go' repeatedly, we use the imperfect iba instead of the preterite fue, which would mean he went just once.
Which verb does iba come from?
Iba comes from the verb ir (to go). It is one of only three verbs that are completely irregular in the imperfect tense, along with ser and ver. For ir, the forms all start with ib-, like iba, ibas, and íbamos.
Why is it al templo instead of a el templo?
In Spanish, whenever the preposition a (to) is followed directly by the masculine word for 'the' (el), they must combine to form the single word al.
Why does griego come after templo?
In Spanish, adjectives that classify or describe a noun, like nationalities or origins (griego), almost always come after the noun. This is why it is templo griego rather than griego templo.

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