ferebant

Ferebant is a Latin verb form: the imperfect active indicative, third-person plural, of the verb ferre (to bear, carry, bring). In English, it is typically translated as “they were bearing” or “they used to bear.” The verb ferre is irregular, and its present tense forms are fero, fers, fert, ferimus, fertis, ferunt; its imperfect forms include ferebam, ferebas, ferebat, ferebamus, ferebatis, ferebant. The form ferebant is built from the stem fere- with the imperfect ending -bant.

Usage notes include the sense of carrying something physically (they were carrying loads) as well as figurative meanings such as bearing, bringing, or producing in a broader sense. The imperfect indicates past ongoing or repeated action rather than a completed past event, which is typical of Latin narrative and description.

Examples of translation:

- Milites onera ferebant. = The soldiers were bearing the loads.

- Nuntios ferebant ad urbem. = They were bringing messengers to the city.

Ferebant may appear in various literary contexts, including historical narration, descriptive passages, and didactic texts, where it conveys ongoing past action rather than a single, completed act. As a member of an irregular verb, it is often encountered with attention to its more familiar present forms and its distinctive imperfect paradigm.

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