hesitavam

Hesitavam is the imperfect indicative form of the Portuguese verb hesitar, used with third-person plural subjects. It translates roughly as “they were hesitating” or “they used to hesitate,” indicating a past action that was ongoing or repeated rather than completed.

Etymology and meaning: hesitar comes from Latin haesitare, itself related to haesus, meaning stuck or fixed. The word carries the sense of pausing, wavering, or being indecisive about a course of action. In usage, hesitar can refer to physical hesitation, moral doubt, or delay before deciding or acting.

Usage: The form hesitavam appears in narrative or descriptive contexts to depict past states of indecision. It is common in both European and Brazilian Portuguese in conveying ongoing hesitation in the past. Example: Eles hesitavam em responder à pergunta. The verb is regular, forming the imperfect with standard -ar endings.

Conjugation notes: hesitar is a regular -ar verb. The imperfect indicative forms are: eu hesitava, tu hesitavas, ele/ela/você hesitava, nós hesitávamos, vós hesitáveis, eles/elas/vocês hesitavam. The infinitive is hesitar, the gerund is hesitando, and the past participle is hesitado. In modern usage, the second-person plural form vós hesitáveis is archaic or literary; hoje, the form vocês hesitavam is common for both formal and informal plural subjects.