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ellos llamaban

called, were calling

ʝ a ˈm a b a n → llamar
llam to call, to phone + aban 3rd-person plural imperfect
verb · 3rd-person plural, imperfect tense Uncommon #16,622
called In this sense, used to say what someone was called or named.
SP: En la escuela lo llamaban Nico.
EN: At school they called him Nico.
were calling, called Used when someone was calling out to or trying to reach someone.
SP: Me llamaban desde la otra habitación.
EN: They were calling me from the other room.
Conjugation of llamar
Indicative imperfect
SingularPlural
First llamaba llamábamos
Second llamabas —
Third llamaba llamaban
Subjunctive imperfect
SingularPlural
First llamaba llamábamos
Second llamabas —
Third llamaba llamaban
llamara

Llamaban a mi puerta y me preguntaban por qué me iba.

They would knock on my door and ask me why I was leaving.

Así llamaban a mi vieja.

That’s what they used to call my old lady.

— La infancia de Iván (1962)

Y como no me llamaban, me puse un poco nerviosa.

And since they weren’t calling me, I got a little nervous.

— Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (1988)

¿Cómo se llamaban?

What were their names?

— Control (2007)

¿Cómo llamaban a la chica?

What was the girl called?

Me llamaban sa'nok.

They called me sa'nok.

— Avatar (2009)

Tom pudo oír que llamaban su nombre.

Tom could hear them calling his name.

Él era completamente negro y por lo tanto, lo llamaban Tango el Gato Negro.

He was completely black and therefore they called him Tango the Black Cat.

Escuchamos que te llamaban.

We heard them calling you.

— Una Voz Silenciosa (2016)

Casi todos se llamaban Peter o Paul.

Almost all of them were named Peter or Paul.

— Buenos Muchachos (1990)

Y llamaban Marie a todas sus hijas.

And they called all their daughters Marie.

— Buenos Muchachos (1990)

Llamaban al Titanic el barco soñado.

They called the Titanic the dream ship.

— Titanic (1997)

Así se llamaban.

That was their name.

— Río Místico (2003)

Al padre de mi padre le llamaban"El Carnaza".

My father's father was called "El Carnaza."

— Amarcord (1973)

¿Cómo la llamaban los niños?

What did the children call her?

— Un asunto de familia (2018)

Lo llamaban el Club Parricida.

They called it the Parricide Club.

— 암살 (2015)

Me llamaban"Padre Tiempo".

They used to call me “Father Time.”

— Por eso lo llaman amor (2017)

Los estudiantes lo llamaban Virus, virus de computadora.

The students called him Virus, computer virus.

— 3 Idiotas (2009)

Le llamaban Jimmy el Caballero.

They called him Jimmy the Gentleman.

— Buenos Muchachos (1990)

Todos la llamaban"La India", simplemente"La India".

Everyone called her “La India,” simply “La India.”

— El agente secreto (2025)

Oí cómo llamaban mi nombre.

I heard them calling my name.

Jimmy El Loro, lo llamaban así porque lo repetía todo dos veces.

Jimmy the Parrot, they called him that because he repeated everything twice.

— Buenos Muchachos (1990)

¿Cómo se llamaban ellos?

What were their names?

Lo llamaban reformatorio.

They called it a reform school.

— Picnic (1955)

Me llamaban Beetlejuice.

They called me Beetlejuice.

— Por eso lo llaman amor (2017)

Sounds similar to

llamabas ʝ a ˈm a b a s llamaran ʝ a ˈm a ɾ a n