referían

Referían is the imperfect indicative form of the verb referir in the third person plural. It signals an ongoing or habitual action in the past related to mentioning, relating, or pointing to information, sources, or topics.

The verb referir comes from the Latin referre, composed of re- “back” and ferre “to carry; to bring,” with the sense of reporting or relating something back to its source. In Spanish, referir shares this broader sense of directing attention to a subject, a source, or a piece of information.

Usage and senses. Referir can mean to tell or relate information: “Los informes referían detalles de la investigación.” It also appears with the pronominal form referirse to something, meaning to refer to or to concern, as in “El párrafo se refiere a las normas vigentes.” The imperfect form referían is commonly used to describe past, repeated, or background reporting in narrative or descriptive contexts.

Conjugation notes. In the imperfect (pretérito imperfecto), referir follows regular endings for -ir verbs, with no stem change: yo refería, tú referías, él refería, nosotros referíamos, vosotros referíais, ellos referían. This contrasts with the preterite refirieron, which denotes a completed past action.

Examples. “Los documentos referían que las cifras eran favorables.” “Durante años, las crónicas referían a las tradiciones del valle.” “Las notas se referían a estudios previos sobre el tema.”

Relaciones y sinónimos. Sinónimos contextuales incluyen mencionar, relatar, aludir, hacer referencia a. El uso preciso depende del sentido: referir como mencionar o relatar, o referirse a cuando indica alusión o relación con algo.