Learn Spanish (Spain): Los bomberos estaban apagando el incendio de la oficina. - The firefighters were putting out the office fire.

Los bomberos estaban apagando el incendio de la oficina.

The firefighters were putting out the office fire.

Breakdown of Los bomberos estaban apagando el incendio de la oficina.

estar

to be (location/state)

Questions & Answers about Los bomberos estaban apagando el incendio de la oficina.

Why do we use "estaban" instead of "estuvieron" here?

We use the imperfect tense estaban because the past continuous tense (saying what someone "was doing") always uses the imperfect form of estar combined with a gerund (like apagando). It describes an ongoing, background action in the past.

How do you form the word "apagando"?

It comes from the verb apagar (to put out / to turn off). To make the gerund (the Spanish equivalent of an "-ing" word), you drop the "-ar" ending and add "-ando", giving you apagando.

Why does the sentence use "incendio" instead of "fuego" for fire?

Un incendio specifically refers to a destructive, uncontrolled fire, like a building or forest fire. Fuego is the general element of fire or a controlled fire, like a campfire or a stove burner. Since it is an office fire, incendio is the correct word.

Why is "office fire" translated as "el incendio de la oficina"?

In English, we often put two nouns together and use the first one as a description (office + fire). Spanish does not stack nouns like this. Instead, you must use de (of) to connect them, literally saying "the fire of the office".