John 4:31

Ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ ἠρώτων αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ λέγοντες· ῥαββεί, φάγε.

Rough Word-by-word:
In the between they were beseeching him the disciples saying, "Rabbi, eat."

Smooth Translation:
Meanwhile the disciples were beseeching him saying, "Rabbi, eat."

Notes:
I struggled with the construction on this verse with the dative followed by an adverbial preposition and an imperfect verb. At first glance I thought it was some kind of genitive absolute with a participle. The Expositor's Greek New Testament barely commented on it. Rogers and Rogers about the same. Robinson suggests supplying [time] with the phrase "In the between [time]."

Ἐν dative preposition "in"

τῷ definite article dative singular masculine "the"

μεταξὺ preposition with genitive used adverbially "between/meanwhile"

ἠρώτων imperfect active indicative 3rd plural from ἐρωτάω (I ask/I beseech) "they were asking"

αὐτὸν pronoun accusative singular masculine "him"

οἱ definite article nominative plural masculine "the"

μαθηταὶ noun nominative plural masculine "disciples"

λέγοντες present passive participle nominative plural masculine from λέγω (I say) "saying"

ῥαββεί noun vocative singular masculine "Rabbi"

φάγε verb aorist active imperative 2nd singular from ἐσθίω (I eat) "you eat"