offendavamo

Offendavamo is the first‑person plural imperfect tense form of the Italian verb offendere, which means "to offend, to insult, or to sin." In standard Italian grammar, the imperfect is used to describe an action that was ongoing or habitual in the past, or to set the background for other events. The stem for offendere is offende‑, and the endings for the first‑person plural in the imperfect are -amo, giving offend‑ + -avamo. This form appears in Italian literature, historical documents, and everyday speech to convey that a group of people was simultaneously committing an offense or expressing disapproval.

The word belongs to the first conjugation family of Italian verbs, characterized by the -are infinitive ending. Offendere derives from the Latin offenders, participle of offendere, which carries the same meaning of causing offense or transgression. The imperfect form, offendavamo, is therefore frequently encountered in classical Italian texts such as Dante’s Divine Comedy or in contemporary dialogue.

Usage of offendavamo is typically limited to contexts where a collective action in the past is being described. For example, a narrative might state: “Noi, mentre si ascoltavano le sue parole, offendavamo il pubblico con le nostre critiche.” In such sentences, the verb signals that the offense was not a one‑time event but a sustained practice. Because of its grammatical specificity, the term is an example of how Italian records distinctions of time and number within verb forms, and it is often studied by students of Italian syntax and morphology.