confirmabantur

Confirmabantur is a Latin verb form, the imperfect passive indicative of the verb confirmare (to confirm, strengthen, establish). It translates literally as “they were being confirmed” and can also carry the sense of “they were being strengthened” depending on the context. The form appears in classical and medieval Latin texts to describe ongoing action in the past in the passive voice.

Morphology and construction: confirmabantur is built on the present stem confirm- with the imperfect passive ending -abantur, which marks third person plural in the imperfect. The corresponding active form is confirmabant (“they were confirming” or “they confirmed”), while other passive forms include confirmantur (present), confirmabuntur (future), and confirmati sunt (perfect passive). The imperfect passive conveys a durative past action where the subject receives the action rather than performing it.

Usage and nuance: The imperfect passive, including confirmabantur, describes actions in progress in the past, often with an agent indicated by a phrase such as a or ab + agent. In religious, legal, or military contexts, confirmabantur can express ongoing confirmation, strengthening, or validation carried out by someone else. The exact nuance depends on the surrounding vocabulary and the broader narrative or discursive context.

Example: Milites confirmabantur ab episcopo. This sentence means “The soldiers were being confirmed by the bishop,” illustrating the passive, imperfect, third-person plural usage.

See also: confirmare; Latin verb paradigms; passive voice in Latin; imperfect tense formations.