cantavate

Cantavate is the second-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Italian verb cantare, meaning to sing. It is used to describe ongoing or habitual past actions by the subject, typically translated as “you all sang” or “you all were singing,” depending on context.

In terms of morphology, cantavate is formed from the infinitive cantare plus the imperfect endings, with -avate occupying the second-person plural. This form is regular for -are verbs in Italian and is commonly seen in narrative prose, lyrics, and informal speech.

Etymology-wise, cantare derives from Latin cantāre, related to cantus, meaning song. The root cant- appears in various Romance languages with related vocabulary for singing.

Usage notes indicate that cantavate appears in past-tense narration, lyric poetry, and reported speech. Example: "Voi cantavate canzoni popolari mentre camminavate lungo la strada," which translates to “You all were singing folk songs while you walked along the road.” Cantavate is not a standalone lexical item but a grammatical form of cantare, and it may be confused with dialectal variants or other languages, though it functions routinely as a past narrative tense in standard Italian.