retinuerant

Retinuerant is a Latin verb form. It is the pluperfect active indicative, third-person plural, of the verb retinere (to hold back, retain). In English translations it corresponds to “they had retained” or “they had kept back.”

Retinere belongs to the second conjugation. Its principal parts are retineo, retinere, retinui, retentum. The pluperfect active endings attach to the perfect stem retinuer- to produce retinuerant for the third-person plural. The pluperfect denotes an action completed before a past moment, and it is commonly used in narrative prose to sequence events or in reported speech.

Example: Illi pecuniam retinuerant. Translation: They had retained the money. This demonstrates the use of the pluperfect to place an action earlier than another past reference point. In Latin syntax, retinuerant can occur with a direct object (in the accusative) such as pecuniam, or with other noun phrases depending on the verb’s object.

Usage notes: Retinere is a standard Latin verb meaning to hold back, restrain, or retain. Retinuerant shows how Latin marks temporal relationships in past narration. The form is primarily of interest to students and readers of Classical Latin and appears in historical, legal, or literary texts where past events are described in sequence.