parvenaient

Parvenaient is the imperfect indicative form of the French verb parvenir, used for third-person plural subjects. Parvenir means to reach, to attain, or to succeed in doing something. The imperfect parvenaient expresses an ongoing or repeated action in the past, such as ongoing progress toward a goal or a series of efforts that culminated over time.

The verb parvenir comes from Latin pervenire, meaning to arrive at or to reach, and it appears in both literal and figurative senses. In ordinary use, parvenir is often followed by the preposition à plus an infinitive, for example parvenir à comprendre (to manage to understand) or parvenir à atteindre un objectif (to manage to reach a goal). In the imperfect, this sense is extended over a past period, as in Ils parvenaient à résoudre le problème malgré les obstacles.

Usage notes: parvenaient is common in literary and formal writing, especially in narratives that describe gradual progress, persistence, or successive attempts. It can describe collective effort, such as a group, organization, or community, as well as individuals in the third person plural. The form contrasts with other tenses of parvenir, such as parvient (present), parvait (imperfect singular), or sont parvenus (passé composé for masculine plural).

Examples:

- Ils parvenaient à franchir la frontière malgré les contrôles. (They were managing to cross the border despite the checks.)

- Les négociations parvenaient peu à peu à un accord fragile. (The negotiations were gradually reaching a fragile agreement.)

Related forms include parvenir, parvienant (gerund form), and the past participle parvenu/parvenue.