revoyaient

Revoyaient is the imperfect, third-person plural form of the French verb revoir, meaning “to see again” or “to review.” In this tense, the verb describes actions or states in the past that were ongoing, habitual, or repeatedly occurring, rather than completed events. The stem for the imperfect is revoy-, and the endings follow the regular imperfect pattern for -oir verbs: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. Therefore, revoyaient conveys “they were seeing again,” “they used to see again,” or, in contexts of examination or assessment, “they were reviewing.”

Etymology and form: revoir itself descends from the prefix re- attached to voir (to see), with voir tracing back to Latin videre. The imperfect form revoyaient is formed by adding the standard imparfait endings to the revoy- stem, a structure shared with other -oir verbs in the imperfect.

Usage: Revoyaient appears in narrative or descriptive past contexts. Examples include revisiting past experiences, such as “Ils revoyaient leurs anciennes photos” (they were revisiting their old photos), or reviewing documents, “Ils revoyaient les documents pour vérifier les détails” (they were reviewing the documents to verify details). In contemporary speech, other expressions like “ont revu” (they have reviewed) or “regardaient à nouveau” (were watching again) can convey similar meanings, but revoyaient remains standard in formal writing and literary narration.

See also: revoir, voir, relire. This form illustrates how the imperfect tense handles ongoing past actions in French, particularly for verbs centered on seeing again or reconsidering.