daignaient

Daignaient is the imperfect (imparfait) third-person plural form of the French verb daigner. The meaning corresponds to “they deigned” or “they condescended,” used to indicate that a subject of high status or precautionary courtesy performed an action that they considered worth or fitting to do. The verb itself conveys a formal, literary nuance and is more common in written or historical narrative than in everyday speech. It is typically followed by an infinitive, as in daigner faire quelque chose (to deign to do something).

Etymology and usage context: daigner comes from Old French deignier/daigner, derived from the medieval sense of deeming something worthy. Its English cognate is “deign.” In modern French, daigner remains relatively formal and somewhat archaic; speakers often replace it with phrases like bien vouloir faire quelque chose or prendre la peine de faire quelque chose in everyday language.

Conjugation note: daigner follows a regular -er verb pattern with a few irregularities in certain tenses. The imperfect stem is daign-, yielding je daignais, tu daignais, il daignait, nous daignions, vous daigniez, ils daignaient. The past participle is daigné. The present tense forms are daigne, daignes, daigne, daignons, daignez, daignent.

Examples: In literary or historical prose one might encounter sentences such as “Ils daignaient accorder une audience,” meaning they deigned to grant an audience. In contemporary writing, the term is less common and may be replaced by expressions that convey a similar sense of politeness or reluctant concession.

See also: daigner, deigne, deign, daigné.