This is the 3711th most frequent Catalan word.
acabava
"Acabava" means "was finishing" or "used to finish" in English, referring to the imperfect tense of "acabar" (to finish).
In this sentence, 'acabava' is used in the imperfect tense to describe a recent past event that had just occurred.
Acabava de sortir de casa quan va començar a ploure.
I had just left home when it started raining.
Here, 'acabava' is employed in the imperfect tense to express a habitual action in the past regarding homework completion.
Ell acabava els deures abans que jo.
He used to finish homework before me.
In this usage, 'acabava' describes the state in which the subject ended up as a result of an activity, framed in the past imperfect tense.