commettaient

Commettaient is the third person plural imperfect indicative form of the French verb commettre, meaning to commit. In this tense, the form expresses an ongoing or habitual action in the past, such as actions that were continuously performed or regularly occurred.

Morphology and formation: For the verb commettre, the imperfect endings are -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. The stem used for the imperfect is commett-, so the form for they is commettaient, spelled with a double t. The full conjugation in the imperfect includes ils/elles commettaient, indicating an imperfect ongoing action at a past time.

Usage and meaning: Commettaient commonly appears in contexts describing past wrongdoing, errors, or acts that were repeated or not completed in the past. It contrasts with the passé composé or other past tenses that denote completed actions. Examples include: Ils commettaient des délits régulièrement, meaning they were committing crimes regularly, or Ils commettaient des erreurs, meaning they were making mistakes. In narrative sequencing, the imperfect often provides background or sets a scene alongside a completed action in the passé composé.

Etymology and related forms: The verb commettre derives from the Latin comittere, meaning to entrust or to put together, with the prefix com- and the root mittere. The imperfect form is a standard pattern for -re verbs in French, illustrating how the tense marks aspect rather than merely time. Related forms include je commettais, tu commettais, il commettait, nous commettions, vous commettiez, and ils commettaient.

See also: commettre, crime, erreur, imperfect tense in French.