-avam
Portuguese, suffix/ˈa.vɐ̃w̃/
-avam is spelled A-V-A-M (4 letters). -avam is a Portuguese suffix meaning “a suffix indicating the third-person plural indicative imperfect of a verb in -ar” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “indicador de terceira pessoa do plural do pretérito imperfeito do indicativo dos verbos terminados em -ar…”.
What does -avam mean in English?
suffix
- 1
a suffix indicating the third-person plural indicative imperfect of a verb in -ar
amar (“to love”) + -avam → amavam (“[They] used to love”)
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
suffix: 1. indicador de terceira pessoa do plural do pretérito imperfeito do indicativo dos verbos terminados em -ar (primeira conjugação)
The definition in the Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), in Portuguese.
Source: Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
How do you pronounce -avam?
- Brazil /ˈa.vɐ̃w̃/
- Brazil [ˈa.vɐ̃ʊ̯̃]
- Portugal /ˈa.vɐ̃w̃/
Sources: English Wiktionary, Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.