portaban

In a sentence

• Los niños se portaban muy bien durante la ceremonia.

  The children behaved very well during the ceremony.

  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.

• En el pasado, las tropas portaban estandartes a la batalla.

  In the past, troops carried banners into battle.

  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.

• Los investigadores portaban equipo especializado para analizar el sitio.

  The investigators were carrying specialized equipment to analyze the site.

  '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.