respiciebatis

Respiciebatis is a Latin verb form functioning as the imperfect active indicative second person plural of respicio, respicere, respexi, respectum. The sense of respicio is “to look back at, regard, consider,” with the prefix re- contributing the sense of backward direction or backward-looking. As a member of the third conjugation -io subgroup (present infinitive respicere), respicio’s imperfect forms insert -iebat, -iebatis patterns, yielding respiciebatis for the second person plural.

Morphologically, respiciebatis is built from the present stem respic- plus the imperfect ending -batis (for you all, imperfect). The regular imperfect endings for -io verbs provide the broader paradigm: respiciebam, respicibas, respiciebat, respiciebamus, respiciebatis, respiciebant, with respiciebatis specifically marking the second person plural in the past, ongoing action. The principal parts of the verb are respicio, respicere, respexi, respectum.

Usage and nuance: respiciebatis conveys ongoing or repeated past action in a context addressing multiple people. It is used when the subject is “you (plural)” and the action of looking back is in progress in the past, whether literal (looking back with the eyes) or figurative (considering, re-evaluating). Translations often render it as “you all were looking back” or “you all used to look back,” depending on context and surrounding temporal markers.

Example: Respiciebatis ad sidera. Translation: You all were looking back toward the stars.