décrivaient

Décrivaient is the third-person plural imperfect indicative form of the French verb décrire, meaning “to describe.” It corresponds to “they were describing” or “they described (over a period in the past).” The imperfect is used for ongoing past actions, descriptions in progress, or background information in narrative and can also appear in indirect speech to recount descriptions given in the past.

Conjugation and related forms

The infinitive is décrire, and the principal present forms include décrivent (they describe). In the imperfect, the form is décrivaient: je décrivais, tu décrivais, il décrivait, nous décrivions, vous décriviez, ils décrivaient. The verb also has a past historic form for literary prose (décrivèrent) and a past participle décrivit/e for compound tenses such as passé composé (ils ont décrit) and plus-que-parfait (ils avaient décrit).

Usage

Décrivaient is commonly found in narrative passages to set scenes or convey how things were described in the past. It is appropriate when the description was ongoing or habitual rather than completed in a single moment. In indirect discourse, it can report what someone described previously, helping to establish context or background information.

Etymology

Décrire derives from Latin describere, formed from the prefix de- plus scribere (to write). The sense evolved from “to write down a description of something” to the modern meaning of describe. The imperfect form décrivaient preserves the historical link to describing actions in the past.

Examples

- Les témoins décrivaient les événements tels qu’ils s’étaient déroulés.

- À l’époque, les chroniqueurs décrivaient le paysage avec précision.