cédèrent

Cédèrent is the third-person plural form in the passé simple of the French verb céder, meaning to yield, to give way, or to cede. In narrative prose, the passé simple is used to recount completed actions in the past, often in literature, historical writing, or formal narration; cédèrent appears in contexts that describe events that happened and were resolved in the past.

Conjugation and usage

The complete passé simple conjugation of céder is: je cédai, tu cédas, il céda, nous cédâmes, vous cédâtes, ils cédèrent. The form cédèrent specifically marks "they yielded" or "they ceded." The ending and acute accent on the first syllable are characteristic of the literary past for -er verbs in this tense. In contemporary spoken French, the same meaning is usually conveyed with the passé composé: ils ont cédé.

Meaning and nuance

Céder in this sense covers yielding ground physically, conceding a point in a discussion, transferring rights or property, or refraining from opposition. The nuance in cédèrent is that the action is presented as a completed step in a sequence of past events, often part of a narrative arc.

Etymology

Céder derives from Latin cedere, meaning to go, yield, or give way. The French form retains the stem cédd- and the regular passé simple endings for -er verbs, with cédèrent marking the third-person plural.

Example

Après des mois de négociations, les autorités cédèrent à une partie des demandes.