tenir

Catalan

Alternative forms

• tindre, tendre

Etymology

Inherited from Early Medieval Latin tenīre, from Classical Latin tenēre with change of conjugation to -ir also found in Occitan and French.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

Verb

tenir (first-person singular present tinc, first-person singular preterite tinguí, past participle tingut); root stress: (Central, Valencian, Balearic) /e/

1. to have, possess
2. to hold

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

References

• “tenir” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “tenir”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “tenir” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “tenir” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Franco-Provençal

Alternative forms

• tegnir

Etymology

Inherited from Early Medieval Latin tenīre, from Classical Latin tenēre.

Verb

tenir

1. to hold

Conjugation

    Conjugation of tenir — irregular

		simple			compound
infinitive		tenir			avêr tenu
gerund		tenent			èyent tenu
auxiliary verb		avêr
past participle		masculine			feminine
	singular	tenu			tenua
	plural	tenus			tenues
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		jo (j')	tu (t')	il/elli	nos	vos	ils
	present	teno	tins	tint	tenens	tenids	tenont
	imperfect	tenien	tenias	teniêt	tenians	teniâds	teniant
	preterite	teni	tenis	tenit	tenirons	tenites, tenirâds	teniront
	future	tindré	tindrés	tindrat	tindrens	tindréds	tindront
	conditional	tindren	tindrias	tindrêt	tindrians	tindriâds	tindriant
compound tenses	present perfect	present indicative of avêr + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avêr + past participle
	past anterior	preterite indicative of avêr + past participle
	future perfect	future indicative of avêr + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avêr + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j')	que te (t')	qu'il/el	que nos	que vos	qu'ils/els
	present	teno	tenes	tene	tenans	teniâds	tenant
	imperfect	tenissen	tenissias	tenisse	tenissians	tenissiâds	tenissant
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avêr + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avêr + past participle
imperative		—	te	—	nos	vos	—
			tins		tenens	tenids

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French tenir, from Old French tenir, from Early Medieval Latin tenīre, from Classical Latin tenēre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tə.niʁ/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

tenir

1. (transitive) to have; to hold
2. (transitive) to keep
3. (intransitive) to stay; to hold

   tenir bon ― to hold fast, to hold tight

4. (reflexive, transitive with à) to hold on

   Elle descend en se tenant aux racines. ― She comes down using the roots for handles (literally, “She comes down holding on to the roots.”)

   La vie ne tient qu’à un fil. ― Life hangs but by a thread.

5. (reflexive) to hold oneself, to be standing

   Il se tenait dans le coin. ― He stood in the corner.

6. (reflexive) to maintain, remain in a certain position or disposition

   Tiens-toi droit ! ― Keep yourself straight!

7. (reflexive) to behave

   Synonym: se comporter

   Tiens-toi bien. ― Behave yourself.

   Elle se tient immobile sur la corde raide. ― She stays still on the tightrope.

8. (transitive with à) to be attached to something, to be fond of something, to hold something dear; to wish to
9. (transitive with pour) to consider something as

   se le tenir pour dit ― to take it as read

   tenir quelque chose pour acquis ― to take something for granted

   tenir quelqu’un pour rien ― to see someone as insignificant, to treat someone as insignificant

10. (transitive with pour) to support someone
11. (transitive with contre) to hold against, to defend against something
12. (reflexive, Quebec, slang) to hang out
    • 1975, Beau Dommage, "Le Vent d'la ville", Passagers, Capitol Record (ST-70.055 , 4XL56355 , CDL-56355 ):

      "J'me tenais dans l’ouest de la ville, ça me fait plus peur l’exil"

      I used to hang out in the west end; exile doesn't scare me anymore.

Conjugation

This is a verb in a group of -ir verbs. All verbs ending in -tenir, such as contenir and détenir, 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-).

This is a verb in a group of -ir verbs. All verbs ending in -tenir, such as contenir and détenir, 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-).

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Saint Dominican Creole French: tini

Further reading

• “tenir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Anagrams

• nitre, rient, terni, Terni

Ido

Verb

tenir

1. past infinitive of tenar

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French tenir.

Noun

tenir

1. to hold

Descendants

• French: tenir
  • Saint Dominican Creole French: tini

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (tenir, supplement)

Norman

Etymology

From Old French tenir, from Early Medieval Latin tenīre, from Classical Latin tenēre.

Verb

tenir

1. to possess; to have
2. to hold

Conjugation

    Conjugation of the verb « tenir » in Norman

infinitive			tenir
gerund			tenant
auxiliary			aveir1
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		tenu		tenue
		plural		tenus		tenues
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		je (j')	tu (t')	il, alle, nos	je (nos)	vos	il, alles
	present	tiens	tiens	tient	tenoms	tenez	tiennent
	imperfect	teneis	teneis	teneit	tenioms	teniez	teneient
	preterite	tins	tins	tint	tînmes	tîntes	tîntrent
	future	tiendrai	tiendras	tiendra	tiendroms	tiendrez	tiendront
	conditional	tiendreis	tiendreis	tiendreit	tiendrioms	tiendriez	tiendreient
subjunctive		que je (j')	que te (t')	qu'il, qu'alle, que nos	que je (que nos)	que vos	qu'il, qu'alles
	present	tienne	tiennes	tienne	tenioms	teniez	tiennent
	imperfect	tinsse	tinsses	tînt tinsse	tinssioms	tinssiez	tinssent
imperative		—	tu	—	je (nos)	vos	—
			tiens		tenoms	tenez
1Used with past participles.

Occitan

Etymology

From Old Occitan tenir, from early Medieval Latin tenīre, from Latin tenēre.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Languedocien)

  (file)

Verb

tenir

1. Alternative form of téner

Old French

Alternative forms

• tenoir (rare; < Latin tenēre)

Etymology

Inherited from Early Medieval Latin tenīre, from Classical Latin tenēre.

Verb

tenir

1. to possess; to have
2. to hold

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has a stressed present stem tien distinct from the unstressed stem ten, as well as other irregularities. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

Descendants

• Middle French: tenir
  • French: tenir
    • Saint Dominican Creole French: tini
• Norman: tenir
• Walloon: tni, tini
• → Middle English: teynen, tainen, tenen
• →⇒ English: tennis (see there for further descendants) (via second-person imperative tenez)

Old Occitan

Alternative forms

• tener

Etymology

Inherited from Early Medieval Latin tenīre, from Classical Latin tenēre.

Verb

tenir

1. to possess; to have
2. to hold

Descendants

• Occitan: téner, tendre, ténguer, tenir, tiéner

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “tenēre”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 13: T–Ti, page 209