veían

Veían is the third-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Spanish verb ver. It expresses seeing in the past as an ongoing, habitual, or background action, and is used with ellos, ellas, and, in many dialects, ustedes.

Conjugation and pronunciation: The imperfect forms of ver follow a regular -er/-ir imperfect pattern with the verb stem ver, producing: yo veía, tú veías, él/ella/usted veía, nosotros veíamos, vosotros veíais, ellos/ellas/ustedes veían. The acute accents appear on several forms (veía, veías, veíais, veían, veíamos) to indicate the proper stress and to distinguish these forms from the other tenses of ver.

Usage: Veían is used to describe past perception or acts of seeing that were not completed at a particular moment. It can set scenes in narration, describe recurring observations, or refer to what multiple subjects perceived over a period. It does not indicate a single completed moment, which would be expressed with the preterite vieron.

Examples: Cuando eran niños, veían caricaturas todas las tardes. No veían la diferencia entre las opciones y seguían discutiendo. En narrativas, veían el paisaje al atardecer y sonreían sin decir una palabra. In Spain, the vosotros form would be veíais, while veían is used with ellos/ellas/ustedes.

Relation to other tenses: Veían contrasts with the preterite vieron (a completed past action) and with the present ver (veo, ves, ve). As an irregular verb in the imperfect, its forms must be memorized, especially for vosotros and ustedes.