No. 4,514 in French
lançaient
"Lan»aient" means "were throwing" or "were launching" in English.
In a sentence
Les enfants lançaient des ballons dans le parc.
The children were throwing balls in the park.
The word 'lançaient' is the imparfait form of the verb 'lancer', indicating a repeated or continuous past action in this context.
Pendant la fête, ils lançaient des confettis partout.
During the party, they were throwing confetti everywhere.
'Lanchaient' here denotes an ongoing past activity (throwing confetti) emphasizing the festive atmosphere.
Les soldats lançaient un dernier regard vers leurs camarades avant de partir.
The soldiers cast one last look towards their comrades before leaving.
In this usage, 'lançaient' metaphorically means 'cast a look', illustrating how the verb can express a figurative action apart from literal throwing.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “lançaient” in actual French podcasts.
Find “lançaient” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays French podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there.
Get the appFrench books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).