géraient

Géraient is a French verb conjugation. It is the third-person plural imperfect indicative form of the verb "gérer". The verb "gérer" in French means to manage, to handle, to run, or to administer. Therefore, "géraient" translates to "they were managing", "they were handling", "they were running", or "they were administering".

The imperfect tense in French is used to describe ongoing actions, habits, or states of being in the past. It can also be used for descriptive purposes in past narratives. For example, "Les employés géraient le stock avec soin" translates to "The employees were managing the stock carefully," indicating a continuous action or a habitual way of handling the stock in the past. Another example could be "Ils géraient une petite entreprise familiale" which means "They were running a small family business".

The subject of the verb "géraient" would be a plural noun or pronoun referring to a group of people or things that were performing the action of managing. Common subjects that would precede "géraient" include "ils" (they, masculine or mixed gender), "elles" (they, feminine), or plural nouns like "les directeurs" (the directors) or "les équipes" (the teams). The imperfect tense "géraient" emphasizes the duration or the setting of the management action rather than a completed event.