detestaban

Detestaban is a Spanish suffix used to form verbs in the preterit tense. The preterit tense, also known as the preterite, is one of the verb tenses in the Spanish language, used to describe completed actions in the past. The suffix detestaban is derived from the infinitive of the verb "detestar", meaning "to despise" or "to detest".

The verb detestaban is the third person plural of the preterit tense of the verb "detestar", and it is used to indicate an action that occurred in the past that was directed towards a group of people or things. For example, "detestaban la idea" translates to "they despised the idea".

In Spanish, the suffixes that indicate the preterit tense vary depending on the verb and the subject. For verbs that end in -ar, -er, or -ir, the following suffixes are added to the root of the verb: -é, -ió, -ue, -ó, -i, -o, -í, -ó, or -é respectively. The verb detestaban is classified as a verb that ends in -ar.

The preterit tense is commonly used to describe completed actions that occurred in the past, and is often used to contrast with other verb tenses, such as the imperfect tense, which describes ongoing or repeated actions in the past. The verb detestaban can be used in conjunction with other verbs and sentence structures to convey complex ideas and actions in the past.

Detestaban is a transitive verb, which means it takes a direct object. However, its usage is limited to specific contexts and subjects, and it is not as commonly used as other preterit tense verbs in Spanish.