"We were looking at the sky."

Translation: Nosotros estábamos mirando el cielo.

[Jeanine]

I also don't know why it isn't Nosotros mirabamos el cielo.

[Jackstewart2]

Google translator give Nosotros mirabamos el cielo as translating to We watched the sky.

[Brycecrab]

Nosotros mirábamos el cielo should be correct as well. It translates as either "We used to watch the sky" or "We were watching the sky."

[bumero]

Why isn't it, "Estabamos mirando al cielo"?

[rspreng]

Mirar means "to look at" and the preposition "a" is built in to the verb itself.

[jjcthorpe]

and why not "estuvimos....?

[neiht20]

Most likely because it was more of an ongoing state, since we don't have enough context to justify that it wasn't.

[ShekharKar2]

'Nosotros estuvimos mirando el ceilo' incorrect?

[rknoops]

veia al cielo is wrong?

[Talca]

Veíamos al cielo should be accepted.

[da.big.fella]

And what about: "mirabamos el cielo"?

[neiht20]

From my understanding, this sentence must be in the past progressive tense because the imperfect tense (mirábamos or veíamos) means either "we looked / we used to look", and from what I was taught, it can only mean "we were looking" if an event interrupted it. For example, "Mirábamos el cielo cuando, de repente, oí una explosión", "we were looking at the sky when, suddenly, I heard an explosion"

[Chris913144]

Why estabamos and not eramos

[Bruce768614]

In Spanish, the Progressive Tenses are always formed using some conjugation of Estar + un gerundio (the Spanish Present Participle).

https://www.enforex.com/language/spanish-progressive-tense.html

[joehhendrickson]

Has DL ever discussed the two different past tense? There should be some index to the hints content.