caminhavam

Caminhavam is the third-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Portuguese verb caminhar, meaning to walk. It translates to “they were walking” or “they used to walk.” The form appears in both Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese and is used to describe ongoing, habitual, or background actions in the past.

Morphology and formation: Caminhar is a regular -ar verb. In the imperfect tense, the endings for the third-person plural are -avam, resulting in caminhavam. The stem caminh- is preserved with the ending -avam, and the ʃsound is kept by the h. The imperfect tense conveys actions that were in progress or repeated in the past.

Usage: Caminhavam is commonly used in narrative and descriptive contexts. Example: “Eles caminhavam pelas ruas quando começou a chover.” It can express routines, gradual developments, or simultaneous actions in the past, such as “Na infância, eles caminhavam muito para chegar à escola.” The form is contrasted with caminharam, the simple past (pretérito perfeito) form meaning “they walked” as a completed action.

Related forms and etymology: Caminhar (infinitive), caminho (path), caminhando (gerund). Caminhavam shares its root with caminho, which denotes a way or route. The verb caminhar itself derives from the concept of moving along a path, a semantic lineage reflected in related nouns and expressions in Portuguese.