This is the 5561st most frequent Spanish word.
poníamos
"We used to put" or "we were putting."
The word "poníamos" is used here to indicate an action (placing books) that used to happen regularly in the past but no longer occurs, reflected by the imperfect tense.
Antes poníamos los libros en la mesa, pero ahora los guardamos en el estante.
Before, we placed the books on the table, but now we store them on the shelf.
Here, "poníamos" expresses a habitual action (paying attention) during a specific time frame in the past, once again employing the imperfect tense to convey the habitual nature.
Cuando éramos niños, siempre poníamos atención en las clases.
When we were children, we always paid attention in class.
In this case, "poníamos" depicts a repeated, habitual action (placing flowers) occurring during specific periods in the past, fitting the meaning conveyed by the imperfect tense.