surprenaient
Surprenaient is a French verb form: it is the imperfect indicative conjugation for the third-person plural subject ils or elles of the verb surprendre, meaning to surprise or to catch someone off guard. In translations, surprenaient can mean "they were surprising" or "they used to surprise," depending on context.
The verb surprendre derives from Old French surprendre, formed from sur- (over) and prendre (to take), with
In the imperfect tense, surprenaient expresses ongoing or repeated action in the past, or a background circumstance
- Ils surprenaient souvent leurs amis par des gestes inattendus. (They often surprised their friends with unexpected
- Pendant la réunion, ils surprenaient les adversaires par leur stratégie inattendue. (During the meeting, they were
Related forms include the other imperfect conjugations of surprendre (je surprenais, tu surprenais, il surprenait, nous