Question 1

Why do we use estabais temblando here?

Accepted Answer

This is the past continuous tense, which you use to describe an action that was ongoing in the past, like "you were trembling". It is made by combining the imperfect tense of estar (estabais) with the gerund form of the verb (temblando).

Question 2

Who is the hidden subject of estabais?

Accepted Answer

The verb ending tells us the subject is vosotros (or vosotras). This is the informal plural "you" used in Spain. The speaker is talking directly to a group of people.

Question 3

How is the word temblando formed?

Accepted Answer

It comes from the verb temblar, which means "to tremble" or "to shiver". To make the gerund (the Spanish equivalent of an "-ing" word), you drop the -ar from the end and add -ando.

Question 4

Why do we use estabais for "were very frightened" instead of erais?

Accepted Answer

You must use estar rather than ser because being frightened is a temporary emotion or physical state. The imperfect form estabais sets the background scene in the past to say how the group was feeling at that specific time.

Question 5

Why does asustados end in -os?

Accepted Answer

Asustados is an adjective describing the group of people being spoken to. In Spanish, adjectives must match the people they describe. The -os ending shows it is plural and masculine, meaning the group being spoken to is either all male or a mixed group of males and females.

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