No. 4,917 in French
savaient
"Did know" or "knew" (imperfect tense of "savoir").
In a sentence
Les enfants savaient comment résoudre le problème.
The children knew how to solve the problem.
In this sentence, 'savaient' (knew) is used to indicate that the children had knowledge about how to solve a problem in the past.
Ils savaient toujours où trouver leur chien.
They always knew where to find their dog.
Here, 'savaient' expresses the repeated or constant knowledge of the location of their dog in the past.
Nous savions que le train était en retard.
We knew that the train was delayed.
In this case, 'savions' (first-person plural form of 'savaient') is used to denote an understanding or awareness of a fact in the past.
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