This is the 13072nd most frequent Spanish word.
portaban
"They carried" or "they behaved," depending on context.
In this sentence, the word 'portaban' is the third-person plural past imperfect form of the reflexive verb 'portarse', which means 'to behave'. It is describing a habitual or continuous action in the past, indicating how the children behaved consistently over the course of the ceremony.
Los niños se portaban muy bien durante la ceremonia.
The children behaved very well during the ceremony.
Here, 'portaban' is the third-person plural past imperfect form of the verb 'portar', which means 'to carry'. It describes a habitual or frequent action of carrying banners during battles in history.
En el pasado, las tropas portaban estandartes a la batalla.
In the past, troops carried banners into battle.
'Portaban' in this case is again from the verb 'portar', used in the past imperfect to describe the continuous or habitual action of the investigators carrying specialized equipment during their work.