planais

Planais is a French verb form, specifically the first-person singular imperfect indicative of the verb planer, which means to glide or hover. In standard spelling the form is planais, but the string planais is the same word in context and is read as “je planais” in written French. The imperfect conveys a continuous or repeated action in the past, as in narrative descriptions: Je planais au-dessus des toits. Translation: I was gliding or I used to glide.

Etymology and sense: Planer comes from Old French planer, itself related to the Latin planare, with the root plan- connected to ideas of smoothness or flatness. The sense of gliding or hovering developed metaphorically from that root, so planer can refer to aircraft, birds, or any motion that seems to float through the air.

Usage notes: The form planais (planais) appears primarily in literary or descriptive prose to situate events in the past. It can describe literal flight, such as a bird or aircraft gliding, or a figurative drift, as in a mood or atmosphere lingering over a scene. Because it is a verb form, planais does not function as a standalone noun or as a name of a place or organization.

See also: Related verb forms of planer across tenses and moods, and other French verbs with similar imperfect past usage.