No. 2,254 in Russian
занимались
"Engaged in" or "were occupied with."
In a sentence
Мы занимались спортом весь вечер.
We were engaged in sports all evening.
In this sentence, "занимались" reflects involvement in a specific activity, showing its use in past continuous tense.
Когда вы занимались изучением этого материала?
When were you engaged in studying this material?
Here, "занимались" is used to indicate the process of dedicating oneself to the activity of studying.
Они занимались организацией мероприятия.
They were involved in organizing the event.
This usage of "занимались" demonstrates its application to indicate the undertaking of a complex task or duty.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “занимались” in actual Russian podcasts.
Find “занимались” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays Russian 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. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Learning English?
LangTurbo plays real English podcasts with every line translated into русский, and tells you what any word means in that sentence. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Russian books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).