rendait

Rendait is the imperfect tense form of the French verb rendre, used for the third-person singular subject (il/elle/on rendait). The imperfect describes ongoing or habitual actions in the past. As a form of rendre, rendait shares the verb’s broad meanings, including to give back, to restore, to yield, or to render in the sense of causing to become or producing a result.

Etymology and sense: rendre comes from Latin reddere, meaning “to give back” or “to restore,” and entered Old French with senses that expanded to include yielding, producing, or causing something to be. In modern French, rendre combines with nouns and prepositions to form common expressions such as rendre visite (to pay a visit), rendre hommage (to pay tribute), rendre compte (to report or account for), rendre justice (to do justice to), and rendre les armes (to surrender).

Usage: rendait is often used to describe past routines or states. For example, "Il rendait visite à ses voisins tous les dimanches" means “He used to visit his neighbours every Sunday.” "Elle rendait hommage à ses mentors" means “She was paying tribute to her mentors” or “She paid tribute to her mentors.”

Conjugation notes: The imperfect forms of rendre are je rendais, tu rendais, il rendait, nous rendions, vous rendiez, ils rendaient. The past participle is rendu, and the present participle is rendant. The infinitive remains rendre.

See also: rendre, rendus. Rendait illustrates how French verbs express past nuance through the imperfect tense and is part of the wider set of idiomatic expressions built with rendre.