déduisaient

Déduisaient is the imperfect tense form of the French verb déduire, used with the subject ils or elles. In this form, the action of deducing or inferring is described as taking place in the past over a period or as a repeated past habit. The imperfect often serves to set the scene in narrative and to convey ongoing reasoning rather than a single completed conclusion.

In use, déduisaient conveys that the subjects were drawing conclusions from evidence or data available to them at the time. It emphasizes the process of reasoning rather than the final result. It is common in formal writing, reportage, and narrative prose when detailing how conclusions were reached. A typical construction is déduisaient de ces indices que… (they inferred from these clues that…). The nuance can differ from conclure (to conclude) by highlighting the inferential steps rather than a definite end point, though the two verbs are closely related in meaning.

Etymology and related forms: déduire comes from Latin deducere, meaning to lead away or draw from. Related forms include the present tense déduisent, the other imperfect forms such as déduisais or déduisait, and the past participle déduit, used with auxiliary avoir in compound tenses. The noun form is déduction. Déduisaient specifically denotes a past, ongoing inference performed by multiple subjects.