levaient

Levaient is a conjugated form of the French verb lever. Specifically, it is the imperfect (imparfait) of the indicative mood in the third person plural: ils levaient, elles levaient. This form is used to describe ongoing or habitual past actions, or to set a scene in the past.

Etymology and meaning: lever comes from Latin levare, meaning to lift or raise. In modern French, lever is mostly transitive (“to lift, raise”) but can also be used reflexively in the sense of “to get up” (se lever). The imperfect form levaient therefore conveys a sense of continuous lifting activity in the past, or a repeated past action.

Conjugation pattern and usage: As a regular -er verb, lever in the imperfect follows the standard endings: je levais, tu levais, il/elle levait, nous levions, vous leviez, ils/elles levaient. The construction is common in narrative or descriptive writing to describe scenes, without specifying a definite endpoint.

Examples:

- Ils levaient les rideaux chaque matin. (They were lifting the curtains every morning.)

- Elles levaient les mains pour signaler leur accord. (They were raising their hands to signal their agreement.)

Distinctions: Levaient should not be confused with levèrent, the passé simple form meaning “they raised” in a single past moment, or with levèrent’ variants in other tenses. In addition, se lever has a reflexive form for the sense “to get up,” which in the imperfect becomes ils se levaient, elles se levaient.

Related terms: lever (base verb), se lever (to get up), imparfait (imperfect).