bénir

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See also: benir

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French beneïr, inherited from Latin benedīcere.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /be.niʁ/
  • Audio:(file)

Verb

bénir

  1. to bless (invoke or give supernatural assistance)

Usage notes

  • This verb has two past participles, regular béni and irregular bénit. Only the former is used in perfect tenses. Otherwise, i.e. in the passive and in adjectival use, béni is used for “blessed”, and bénit is used for “consecrated”.

Conjugation

This is a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, choisir, and most other verbs with infinitives ending in -ir. One salient feature of this conjugation is the repeated appearance of the infix -iss-.

Conjugation of bénir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple bénir
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple bénissant
/be.ni.sɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle béni
/be.ni/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present bénis
/be.ni/ 		bénis
/be.ni/ 		bénit
/be.ni/ 		bénissons
/be.ni.sɔ̃/ 		bénissez
/be.ni.se/ 		bénissent
/be.nis/
imperfect bénissais
/be.ni.sɛ/ 		bénissais
/be.ni.sɛ/ 		bénissait
/be.ni.sɛ/ 		bénissions
/be.ni.sjɔ̃/ 		bénissiez
/be.ni.sje/ 		bénissaient
/be.ni.sɛ/
past historic2 bénis
/be.ni/ 		bénis
/be.ni/ 		bénit
/be.ni/ 		bénîmes
/be.nim/ 		bénîtes
/be.nit/ 		bénirent
/be.niʁ/
future bénirai
/be.ni.ʁe/ 		béniras
/be.ni.ʁa/ 		bénira
/be.ni.ʁa/ 		bénirons
/be.ni.ʁɔ̃/ 		bénirez
/be.ni.ʁe/ 		béniront
/be.ni.ʁɔ̃/
conditional bénirais
/be.ni.ʁɛ/ 		bénirais
/be.ni.ʁɛ/ 		bénirait
/be.ni.ʁɛ/ 		bénirions
/be.ni.ʁjɔ̃/ 		béniriez
/be.ni.ʁje/ 		béniraient
/be.ni.ʁɛ/
(compound
tenses) 		present perfect present indicative of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
past anterior2 past historic of avoir + past participle
future perfect future of avoir + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive que je (j’) que tu qu’il, qu’elle que nous que vous qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple
tenses) 		present bénisse
/be.nis/ 		bénisses
/be.nis/ 		bénisse
/be.nis/ 		bénissions
/be.ni.sjɔ̃/ 		bénissiez
/be.ni.sje/ 		bénissent
/be.nis/
imperfect2 bénisse
/be.nis/ 		bénisses
/be.nis/ 		bénît
/be.ni/ 		bénissions
/be.ni.sjɔ̃/ 		bénissiez
/be.ni.sje/ 		bénissent
/be.nis/
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — bénis
/be.ni/ 		— bénissons
/be.ni.sɔ̃/ 		bénissez
/be.ni.se/ 		—
compound — simple imperative of avoir + past participle — simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle —
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
  • past historic → present perfect
  • past anterior → pluperfect
  • imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive
  • pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive

(Christopher Kendris , Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

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