'Llamaban' uses the imperfect tense, which is used to talk about actions that happened repeatedly or continuously over a stretch of time in the past.

Imperfect Tense Function

This form refers to 'ellos' (they, masculine/mixed group), 'ellas' (they, feminine group), or 'ustedes' (you all, formal).

Who is 'They'?

Use 'llamaban' when describing the background action in a story: 'Llovía y me llamaban, pero no escuché' (It was raining and they were calling me, but I didn't hear).

Setting the Scene

Extremely common way to talk about people repeatedly trying to contact someone by phone or voice in the past.

When used for naming, 'llamaban' often works like 'they designated' or 'they referred to,' setting up a long-term description of a person or place.

Naming vs. Calling

Commonly used to describe how a person or thing was traditionally named or referred to in the past.

Used to describe the repeated action of knocking on a door or ringing a bell in the past.

Learn the meaning of the Spanish verb form 'llamaban' (they used to call, they were naming). Includes conjugation for the verb 'llamar' in the imperfect tense and tips for distinguishing habitual vs. single past actions.

Llamaban Meaning, Usage, and Conjugation | InkLingo

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llamaban

Complete Conjugation Tables

🔄 Conjugations

subjunctive

imperfect

present

imperative

negative

affirmative

indicative

imperfect

present

preterite

conditional

future

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