probaba

In a sentence

• Yo probaba la comida para asegurarme de que estaba sabrosa.

  I was tasting the food to make sure it was tasty.

  Here, 'probaba' is used in the past imperfect tense to describe a habitual or repeated action in the past where the speaker used to sample or taste food.

• Cuando era niño, probaba diferentes deportes cada año.

  When I was a child, I tried different sports every year.

  In this sentence, 'probaba' implies experimenting or giving a try to different sports habitually during a past time frame, showing repeated attempts.

• Ella probaba los vestidos antes de comprarlos.

  She was trying on the dresses before buying them.

  Here, 'probaba' refers to the action of trying on clothes to check if they fit, in a descriptive sense of something that was occurring in the past.