Они продолжили поиск.

They continued the search.

Breakdown of Они продолжили поиск.

• они: they
• продолжить: to continue (perfective)
• поиск: the search

Questions & Answers about Они продолжили поиск.

What does each word in Они продолжили поиск mean?

• Они = they
• продолжили = continued
• поиск = search

So the sentence means They continued the search or, depending on context, They continued searching.

Why is продолжили translated as continued?

Продолжили is the past tense plural form of the verb продолжить, which means to continue.

Its basic parts are:

• продолжить = infinitive, to continue
• продолжили = past tense, plural, continued

Because the subject is они (they), the verb appears in the plural past form.

Why does продолжили end in -ли?

In Russian, past tense verbs agree with the subject in number, and in the singular also in gender.

For past tense:

• masculine singular: -л
• feminine singular: -ла
• neuter singular: -ло
• plural: -ли

So:

• он продолжил = he continued
• она продолжила = she continued
• оно продолжило = it continued
• они продолжили = they continued

That is why you see -ли here.