cupiebant

Cupiebant is the imperfect indicative active form of the Latin verb cupio, cupere, meaning to desire or want. It translates most directly as "they desired" or "they were desiring," indicating an ongoing or repeated action in the past.

Morphology and formation: Cupio belongs to the -io verbs, and the imperfect is formed on the stem cupieb- with the standard imperfect endings. The forms from this stem are cupiebam, cupiebas, cupiebat, cupiebamus, cupiebatis, and cupiebant. The long-standing pattern for the imperfect of -io verbs thus yields cupiebant for the third-person plural.

Usage and nuance: Cupiebant expresses a past, imperfect sense of desire rather than a completed past action. It often appears in narrative or descriptive passages to describe ongoing wishes, hopes, or preferences in the past. The sense can be strengthened by context or by accompanying adverbs of frequency or duration.

Related forms and notes: The present tense of the verb is cupio, cupere, cupivi, cupitum, with the imperfect shown above. The perfect forms can be cupivi (first person singular) or cupiverunt (third person plural), among other variants found in Latin authors. The verb is transitive and typically takes a direct object in the accusative when specifying what is desired, for example cupiebant pacem (they desired peace).

See also: cupio, cupere, and related conjugation patterns for -io verbs. Cupiebant is a standard example of the imperfect tense used with verbs expressing volition or desire in classical Latin.