commençaient

commençaient is the third-person plural imperfect indicative form of the French verb commencer. The verb commencer means "to begin" or "to start." Therefore, "commençaient" translates to "they were beginning" or "they were starting." This tense is used to describe an action that was ongoing or habitual in the past, or to set the scene for a past event. For example, in the sentence "Les enfants jouaient quand les premiers flocons de neige commençaient à tomber," the word "commençaient" indicates that the snowfall was in progress as the children were playing. It conveys a sense of continuity or an action that was in the process of happening at a specific point in the past. The imperfect tense also serves to describe conditions or states in the past, and in this context, "commençaient" can imply the initial stages or the commencement of a situation.