J’entendais un monstre

Question

Should “J’entendais un monstre” translate to “I heard a monster“ as opposed to “I would hear a monster”?

Accepted Answer

This is a translation of the French imperfect past tense - which has no direct English equivalent. “Would hear” may be an attempt to concisely match the French imparfait in describing an event occurring repeatedly, with uncertain frequency and timing, and the speakers ‘doubt’ now that a monster was really ever “heard”.
“Heard” could have been used - as there are few absolute rules in translation - but ‘would hear’ is a very good fit.  
Of course, the decision could also have been made because 3 syllables were needed in English to match the French phrase !

Answer

Hi Brian,
Just to add to Maarten's excellent answer, zooming back into a period of your past life is the realm of the 'imparfait'. 
It is always difficult to translate in English but it is often
used to do/ would do
was doing
or simply
did.
I, like Maarten, liked the way it was translated to convey an action that was often repeated.
Bonne Continuation!