Prispievali

Prispievali is a verb form used in Slovak to express past actions that were repeated or were ongoing, corresponding to the imperfective aspect. Specifically, it is the third-person plural past tense form of the imperfective verb prispievať, meaning to contribute or to provide in a ongoing or habitual sense. The form is commonly found in narrative or historical contexts where the emphasis is on the process or repetition of contributing rather than on a single completed act.

In usage, prispievali signals that a group of subjects contributed over a period of time or on a regular basis. It contrasts with the perfective past form prispeli, which would convey a completed contribution or a one-off act. The distinction between imperfective and perfective past forms is a key feature of Slovak verb aspect and helps convey nuances of duration, frequency, or habit.

Morphologically, prispievali is formed by applying the standard imperfective past suffix to the stem of prispievať. There are related forms for other persons and genders, and the corresponding feminine and neuter forms appear with their own endings in aligned contexts. In Czech, a closely related form would appear as příspívali with a similar function.

See also: prispievať, prispieť, imperfective aspect, perfective aspect, Slovak verbs. The form prispievali illustrates how Slavic languages encode iterative or habitual past actions without implying a single, completed event.