-ait
Appearance
French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Inherited from Old French -oit, an irregular development from second and third conjugation ending Latin -ēbat and fourth conjugation ending Latin -iēbat (note the dropping of -a- is irregular). Possibly due to the influence by the third-person singular subjunctive imperfect suffixes -ât, -ît, -ût (with a circumflex preceding -t) whose regularly drops -e- in unstressed positions.
Pronunciation
[edit]Suffix
[edit]-ait
- forms the third-person singular imperfect indicative form of a verb