pleuraient
Pleuraient is the third-person plural imperfect indicative form of the French verb pleurer. The verb pleurer translates to "to cry" in English. Therefore, "pleuraient" specifically means "they were crying" or "they used to cry." The imperfect tense in French is used to describe ongoing actions or states of being in the past, as well as habitual actions or descriptions.
For example, in a sentence like "Les enfants pleuraient parce qu'ils avaient faim," the word "pleuraient" indicates