recogían

In a sentence

• Los niños recogían flores en el campo.

  The children were picking flowers in the field.

  Here, 'recogían' is used to indicate an action of collecting/picking up items (flowers) that the children were performing in the past continuously.

• Ellos se recogían temprano en la noche.

  They retired early in the evening.

  In this sentence, 'recogían' is employed reflexively to describe people withdrawing or going to rest.

• Las familias recogían todo antes de la tormenta.

  The families gathered everything before the storm.

  Here, 'recogían' describes the action of gathering or taking in items from their surroundings in preparation for an event.