Imperfect Tense Conjugation Practice Test 2026 – Your Complete Guide to Mastering Verb Forms!

The main idea here is that the imperfect form of estar describes a past, ongoing state or condition. Ellos estaban signals “they were” in a continuous sense, and in English we often render that as “they were” or, when stressing a past habit, “they used to be.” That’s why the best match is “They used to be; they were.”

The other ideas require different verbs or forms: going would need a gerund construction (estaban yendo) or a different verb like iban, and living would come from vivir (vivían) with its own imperfect form. Since there’s no complement after estaban, the natural translations center on a past ongoing state, hence the chosen meaning.