prévenir

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See also: prevenir

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin praeveniō (“anticipate”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pʁev.niʁ/, /pʁɛv.niʁ/
  • audio(file)

Verb

prévenir (transitive)

  1. to prevent, to avert, to guard against
    C’est la meilleure méthode pour prévenir la fraude et la corruption.
    That is the best method of preventing fraud and corruption.
  2. to notify, to warn, to forewarn
    Il vous enverra des avertissements afin de vous prévenir de l’arrivée à échéance de votre abonnement.
    It will send you warnings to notify you when your subscription is about to expire.

Conjugation

This is a verb in a group of -ir verbs. All verbs ending in -venir, such as convenir and devenir, are conjugated this way. Such verbs are the only verbs whose the past historic and subjunctive imperfect endings do not start in one of these thematic vowels (-a-, -i-, -u-).

Conjugation of prévenir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple prévenir
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple prévenant
/pʁev.nɑ̃/ or /pʁɛv.nɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle prévenu
/pʁev.ny/ or /pʁɛv.ny/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present préviens
/pʁe.vjɛ̃/ 		préviens
/pʁe.vjɛ̃/ 		prévient
/pʁe.vjɛ̃/ 		prévenons
/pʁev.nɔ̃/ or /pʁɛv.nɔ̃/ 		prévenez
/pʁev.ne/ or /pʁɛv.ne/ 		préviennent
/pʁe.vjɛn/
imperfect prévenais
/pʁev.nɛ/ or /pʁɛv.nɛ/ 		prévenais
/pʁev.nɛ/ or /pʁɛv.nɛ/ 		prévenait
/pʁev.nɛ/ or /pʁɛv.nɛ/ 		prévenions
/pʁe.və.njɔ̃/ 		préveniez
/pʁe.və.nje/ 		prévenaient
/pʁev.nɛ/ or /pʁɛv.nɛ/
past historic2 prévins
/pʁe.vɛ̃/ 		prévins
/pʁe.vɛ̃/ 		prévint
/pʁe.vɛ̃/ 		prévînmes
/pʁe.vɛ̃m/ 		prévîntes
/pʁe.vɛ̃t/ 		prévinrent
/pʁe.vɛ̃ʁ/
future préviendrai
/pʁe.vjɛ̃.dʁe/ 		préviendras
/pʁe.vjɛ̃.dʁa/ 		préviendra
/pʁe.vjɛ̃.dʁa/ 		préviendrons
/pʁe.vjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/ 		préviendrez
/pʁe.vjɛ̃.dʁe/ 		préviendront
/pʁe.vjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/
conditional préviendrais
/pʁe.vjɛ̃.dʁɛ/ 		préviendrais
/pʁe.vjɛ̃.dʁɛ/ 		préviendrait
/pʁe.vjɛ̃.dʁɛ/ 		préviendrions
/pʁe.vjɛ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/ 		préviendriez
/pʁe.vjɛ̃.dʁi.je/ 		préviendraient
/pʁe.vjɛ̃.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 prévienne
/pʁe.vjɛn/ 		préviennes
/pʁe.vjɛn/ 		prévienne
/pʁe.vjɛn/ 		prévenions
/pʁe.və.njɔ̃/ 		préveniez
/pʁe.və.nje/ 		préviennent
/pʁe.vjɛn/
imperfect2 prévinsse
/pʁe.vɛ̃s/ 		prévinsses
/pʁe.vɛ̃s/ 		prévînt
/pʁe.vɛ̃/ 		prévinssions
/pʁe.vɛ̃.sjɔ̃/ 		prévinssiez
/pʁe.vɛ̃.sje/ 		prévinssent
/pʁe.vɛ̃s/
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — préviens
/pʁe.vjɛ̃/ 		— prévenons
/pʁev.nɔ̃/ or /pʁɛv.nɔ̃/ 		prévenez
/pʁev.ne/ or /pʁɛv.ne/ 		—
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).

Derived terms

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Further reading

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