permettais

Permettais is a conjugated form of the French verb permettre, meaning “to allow” or “to permit.” In the imperfect indicative tense, permettais is used for the first person singular (je) and the second person singular (tu). The form expresses past actions that were ongoing, habitual, or contextual: je permettais means “I was allowing” or “I used to allow,” and tu permettais means “you were allowing” or “you used to allow.” It is not used for il/elle, nous, vous, or ils/elles, which take autres endings in the imperfect (par exemple, il permettait, nous permettions, vous permettiez, ils permettaient). The imperfect often appears in narration to describe past permissions or circumstances.

Etymology and related forms: permettre comes from Latin permittere, literally “to let through,” built from per- “through” and mittere “to send/let.” In French, it shares its root with related verbs in the -mettre family, though each has distinct conjugation patterns.

Usage notes: permettais typically introduces statements about past permission granted to someone or a general past habit of allowing something. It is commonly followed by a complement indicating what was allowed and to whom: par exemple, Je permettais à mes enfants de sortir tard. Tu permettais souvent à tes amis d’utiliser ta voiture. In narrative writing, permettais helps set scenes describing what was permissible at a given time.

See also: permettre, imparfait (French verb), French conjugation. Permettais is strictly a verb form, not a standalone noun or concept.