Inherited from Middle French, from Old French criembre, criendre (later creindre), from Classical Latin tremere, from Proto-Indo-European *trem- (“to tremble”). Altered into a regional Gallo-Romance Vulgar Latin form *cremere, with the initial c- under the influence of the Celtic root *krit- (Breton kridien, Scottish Gaelic crith), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *krey-. Compare the similar Occitan crénher.
craindre
This verb is conjugated like peindre. It uses the same endings as rendre or vendre, but its -nd- becomes -gn- before a vowel, and its past participle ends in 't' instead of a vowel.
| infinitive | simple | craindre | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | craignant /kʁɛ.ɲɑ̃/ or /kʁe.ɲɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | craint /kʁɛ̃/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | crains /kʁɛ̃/ |
crains /kʁɛ̃/ |
craint /kʁɛ̃/ |
craignons /kʁɛ.ɲɔ̃/ or /kʁe.ɲɔ̃/ |
craignez /kʁɛ.ɲe/ or /kʁe.ɲe/ |
craignent /kʁɛɲ/ |
| imperfect | craignais /kʁɛ.ɲɛ/ or /kʁe.ɲɛ/ |
craignais /kʁɛ.ɲɛ/ or /kʁe.ɲɛ/ |
craignait /kʁɛ.ɲɛ/ or /kʁe.ɲɛ/ |
craignions /kʁɛ.ɲjɔ̃/ or /kʁe.ɲjɔ̃/ |
craigniez /kʁɛ.ɲje/ or /kʁe.ɲje/ |
craignaient /kʁɛ.ɲɛ/ or /kʁe.ɲɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | craignis /kʁɛ.ɲi/ or /kʁe.ɲi/ |
craignis /kʁɛ.ɲi/ or /kʁe.ɲi/ |
craignit /kʁɛ.ɲi/ or /kʁe.ɲi/ |
craignîmes /kʁɛ.ɲim/ or /kʁe.ɲim/ |
craignîtes /kʁɛ.ɲit/ or /kʁe.ɲit/ |
craignirent /kʁɛ.ɲiʁ/ or /kʁe.ɲiʁ/ | |
| future | craindrai /kʁɛ̃.dʁe/ |
craindras /kʁɛ̃.dʁa/ |
craindra /kʁɛ̃.dʁa/ |
craindrons /kʁɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/ |
craindrez /kʁɛ̃.dʁe/ |
craindront /kʁɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | craindrais /kʁɛ̃.dʁɛ/ |
craindrais /kʁɛ̃.dʁɛ/ |
craindrait /kʁɛ̃.dʁɛ/ |
craindrions /kʁɛ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/ |
craindriez /kʁɛ̃.dʁi.je/ |
craindraient /kʁɛ̃.dʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | craigne /kʁɛɲ/ |
craignes /kʁɛɲ/ |
craigne /kʁɛɲ/ |
craignions /kʁɛ.ɲjɔ̃/ or /kʁe.ɲjɔ̃/ |
craigniez /kʁɛ.ɲje/ or /kʁe.ɲje/ |
craignent /kʁɛɲ/ |
| imperfect2 | craignisse /kʁɛ.ɲis/ or /kʁe.ɲis/ |
craignisses /kʁɛ.ɲis/ or /kʁe.ɲis/ |
craignît /kʁɛ.ɲi/ or /kʁe.ɲi/ |
craignissions /kʁɛ.ɲi.sjɔ̃/ or /kʁe.ɲi.sjɔ̃/ |
craignissiez /kʁɛ.ɲi.sje/ or /kʁe.ɲi.sje/ |
craignissent /kʁɛ.ɲis/ or /kʁe.ɲis/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | crains /kʁɛ̃/ |
— | craignons /kʁɛ.ɲɔ̃/ or /kʁe.ɲɔ̃/ |
craignez /kʁɛ.ɲe/ or /kʁe.ɲe/ |
— | |
| 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:
(Christopher Kendris , Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||