Possédaient

Possédaient is the third-person plural imperfect indicative form of the French verb posséder. The verb posséder generally translates to "to possess," "to own," or "to have." Therefore, "possédaient" specifically refers to a past ongoing or habitual action of possessing or owning by a group of people or things. For example, in a sentence like "Ils possédaient une grande maison à la campagne," it would mean "They possessed/owned a large house in the countryside," indicating that at that time in the past, they had ownership of the house. The imperfect tense is used here to describe a state or condition in the past, rather than a completed action. It can also imply a sense of continuity or duration. In historical contexts, it might describe what a group of people collectively owned or what a kingdom or entity held. The meaning is directly tied to the subject performing the action of possessing.