Entendieron

Entendieron is the pretérito perfecto simple (preterite) form of the Spanish verb entender, used with third-person plural subjects (ellos, ellas) or with ustedes in Latin American Spanish. It translates to they understood or you understood in the polite plural sense.

Morphology and conjugation: Entendieron is formed from the stem entend- plus the -ieron ending used for the third-person plural in -er verbs in the preterite. The full preterite paradigm for entender is entendí, entendiste, entendió, entendimos, entendisteis (Spain), entendieron. This form is regular for its tense and mood, with no acute accent on the final syllable.

Usage and nuance: Entendieron refers to a completed understanding in the past. It requires a direct object, as in Entendieron la explicación (They understood the explanation). It can appear in questions such as ¿Entendieron lo que dije? and in statements like Ayer entendieron el argumento. Semantically, entender is often used interchangeably with comprender, though entender may be more common for general or practical understanding, while comprender can imply deeper or more complete comprehension.

Regional considerations: In Spain, the vosotros form is used in the preterite as entendisteis, whereas in Latin America, ustedes entendieron is common for the same subject. The meaning remains the same, with regional variations in pronoun usage and corresponding verb forms.

Etymology: Entender derives from Latin intendere, meaning to stretch toward or direct the mind. The prefix ent- and the development of the verb’s senses reflect a shift from “to direct toward understanding” to the modern sense of comprehension.