trouvèrent

Trouvèrent is the third-person plural form of the French verb trouver in the passé simple, the literary past tense used in narration. It conveys a completed action in the past and translates to “they found” in English. In contemporary spoken French, the passé simple is rarely used; speakers would typically say ils ont trouvé (passé composé) or another practical past construction. The ending -èrent is the standard passé simple ending for a regular -er verb in the third person plural, and the stem is trouv-, giving trouvèrent with the grave accent on the first e of -èrent.

Etymology: trouver derives from Old French trover, itself from Latin trovāre or trovare, meaning to find or discover. The same root underlies related medieval terms such as trouvère, a poet-musician in Old and Middle French literature.

Usage and cultural context: trouvèrent appears in historical chronicles, classical novels, and poetry, where the passé simple is traditional for recounting events. It is part of a broader system of verb tenses that marks narrative sequence and momentary actions in past time. Its presence signals a text situated within literary or historical styles rather than everyday modern speech.

See also: trouver, passé simple, trouvère, roman or récit historique. Examples in literature often use the form to convey a sense of antiquity or formality in storytelling.