Servait

Servait is the third-person singular imperfect indicative form of the French verb servir, meaning "he/she/it was serving" or "used to serve." It is used to describe ongoing or habitual past actions or to set a scene in narrative past.

Etymology and usage context: The verb servir comes from Old French servir and ultimately from Latin servire, meaning to be a servant or to serve. The imperfect form servait follows the standard French conjugation pattern for -ir verbs in the imperfect, adding the -ait ending to the stem serv- for the third-person singular. In modern French, servait is commonly encountered in storytelling, descriptions of past routines, and background actions that were in progress at a particular time.

Examples and nuance: A typical sentence is Il servait le dîner quand le téléphone a sonné, meaning "He was serving the dinner when the phone rang." Another example is Autrefois, elle servait souvent du thé, meaning "In the past, she used to serve tea often." The imperfect contrasts with the passé composé, as in Il a servi, which means "he served" and presents a completed action. The imperfect can also express habitual past actions and provide context without focusing on the moment of completion.

Related considerations: Servait, like other imperfect forms, often pairs with time expressions such as hier (yesterday), autrefois (formerly), or pendant que (while) to indicate the temporal frame. It is a finite verb form and cannot be used independently as an infinitive; the infinitive is servir, and the noun form is service.

See also: French conjugation, imperfect tense, servir.

---