recogían

recogían

"Recogían" means "they collected" or "they picked up."

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

Los niños recogían flores en el campo.

The children were picking flowers in the field.

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

Ellos se recogían temprano en la noche.

They retired early in the evening.

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

Las familias recogían todo antes de la tormenta.

The families gathered everything before the storm.