luderunt

Luderunt is the third-person plural perfect active indicative form of the Latin verb ludere, meaning “they played” and used to indicate a completed past action. Ludere is a regular third-conjugation verb (to play, to mock, to sport, to amuse oneself). The perfect tense is formed from the stem lud- with the suffix -ērunt, yielding lūdērunt in careful spelling or luderunt in common ASCII texts. The form appears with a plural subject and is used in narrative and historical writing to report past events.

In usage, luderunt primarily translates as “they played.” Depending on context, it can denote playing games, performing, or engaging in playful activity; the sense may broaden to “they amused themselves” or “they played (a game or role).” The exact sense is determined by surrounding words and objects.

Orthography and pronunciation: Classical Latin manuscripts write the form as lūdērunt (with a macron over the e for a long vowel). In everyday modern editions and digital texts, you will often see luderunt. It is pronounced roughly loo-DEH-runt, with the classical long e generally realized as a longer vowel in careful pronunciation.

Related forms include the base ludere and the present lūdō, as well as other perfect forms of the verb. The form is common across Latin literature from the early republic through late antiquity.

See also: ludere; lūdō; Latin verb conjugation.