Predvídali

Predvídali is a past tense verb form used in Czech and Slovak to mean “they foresaw” or “they anticipated.” It is the third-person plural past tense of the verb predvídat (Czech) or predvídať (Slovak), describing actions in which a group perceived or predicted something in the past.

Etymology and morphology: The form combines the prefix před- meaning “before” with a stem related to vídat or vidieť, meaning “to see” or “to perceive.” The concept lies at the core of forecasting or anticipating events. In standard Czech, the infinitive is předvídat, and the past tense forms include předvídali for masculine plural subjects, předvídaly for feminine plural, and so on. In Slovak, the corresponding infinitive is predvídať, with a parallel set of past tense endings, including predvídali for masculine plural.

Usage: Predvídali is used to recount forecasts, preparations, or expectations voiced by a group in the past. It often appears in historical narratives, journalism, or reported speech when describing what a team, experts, or authorities predicted before an event. The term emphasizes the act of foreseeing rather than the outcome, although it may be linked to whether the forecast proved accurate.

Examples: Czech usage: V roce 2008 předvídali ekonomickou krizi. Slovak usage: Odborníci predvídali zhoršenie ekonomickej situácie. These sentences illustrate the plural past tense describing collective forecasts rather than single, ongoing predictions.

See also: predvídat, predpovedať.