Yap.Town

yo acababa

was ending, was coming to an end, had just

a k a ˈb a b a → acabar
acab to finish, end + aba Imperfect past (yo/él/ella)
verb · 1st-person singular / 3rd-person singular, imperfect tense Rare #47,675
was ending, was coming to an end
SP: La película se acababa cuando llegamos.
EN: The movie was ending when we arrived.
had just
SP: Acababa de llegar a casa.
EN: I had just arrived home.
Conjugation of acabar
Subjunctive imperfect
SingularPlural
First acababa —
Third acabara —
Indicative imperfect
SingularPlural
First acababa —
Third acababa —

Siempre me hacía ilusiones y siempre acababa en nada.

I always got my hopes up, and it always ended up being nothing.

— Amarcord (1973)

Con el narcotráfico fuera de juego, la fiesta de los corruptos se acababa.

With drug trafficking out of the picture, the party for the corrupt was over.

— Tropa de Élite 2 (2010)

Nos casamos cuando el pequeño acababa de nacer.

We got married when the little one had just been born.

— Los 400 golpes (1959)

Mucha gente acababa de perder una fortuna.

A lot of people had just lost a fortune.

Y justo cuando la oruga pensó que se acababa el mundo, se convirtió en mariposa.

And just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, it turned into a butterfly.

Sounds similar to

acabada a k a ˈb a d a acabara a k a ˈb a ɾ a