tenir

See also: teñir

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) [təˈni]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [teˈniɾ]

Verb

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

1. to have, possess
2. to hold

Conjugation

    Conjugation of tenir (third conjugation, without -eix-, irregular, with velar infix)

infinitive			tenir
gerund			tenint
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		tingut		tinguda
		plural		tinguts		tingudes
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	tinc	tens	té	tenim	teniu	tenen
	imperfect	tenia	tenies	tenia	teníem	teníeu	tenien
	future	tindré	tindràs	tindrà	tindrem	tindreu	tindran
	preterite	tinguí	tingueres	tingué	tinguérem	tinguéreu	tingueren
	conditional	tindria	tindries	tindria	tindríem	tindríeu	tindrien
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	tingui	tinguis	tingui	tinguem	tingueu	tinguin
	imperfect	tingués	tinguessis	tingués	tinguéssim	tinguéssiu	tinguessin
imperative		—	tu	vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres vós	vostès
	affirmative	—	té, ten, tingues	tingui	tinguem	teniu, tingueu	tinguin
	negative (no)	—	no tinguis	no tingui	no tinguem	no tingueu	no tinguin

Derived terms

• captenir-se
• no tenir preu
• tenir en compte
• tenir lloc
• tenir present
• tenir raó

 

Related terms

• tenidor
• teniment
• tinent

 

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 (obrl)

Etymology

Inherited from Early Medieval Latin tenīre.

Verb

tenir (ORB large)

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

References

• tenir in DicoFranPro: Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – on dicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
• tenir in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu

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 [V], 4XL56355 [K7], CDL-56355 [CD]):

      "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-).

Conjugation of tenir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	tenir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	tenant /tə.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		tenu /tə.ny/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tiens /tjɛ̃/	tiens /tjɛ̃/	tient /tjɛ̃/	tenons /tə.nɔ̃/	tenez /tə.ne/	tiennent /tjɛn/
	imperfect	tenais /tə.nɛ/	tenais /tə.nɛ/	tenait /tə.nɛ/	tenions /tə.njɔ̃/	teniez /tə.nje/	tenaient /tə.nɛ/
	past historic2	tins /tɛ̃/	tins /tɛ̃/	tint /tɛ̃/	tînmes /tɛ̃m/	tîntes /tɛ̃t/	tinrent /tɛ̃ʁ/
	future	tiendrai /tjɛ̃.dʁe/	tiendras /tjɛ̃.dʁa/	tiendra /tjɛ̃.dʁa/	tiendrons /tjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/	tiendrez /tjɛ̃.dʁe/	tiendront /tjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	tiendrais /tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	tiendrais /tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	tiendrait /tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	tiendrions /tjɛ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/	tiendriez /tjɛ̃.dʁi.je/	tiendraient /tjɛ̃.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	tienne /tjɛn/	tiennes /tjɛn/	tienne /tjɛn/	tenions /tə.njɔ̃/	teniez /tə.nje/	tiennent /tjɛn/
	imperfect2	tinsse /tɛ̃s/	tinsses /tɛ̃s/	tînt /tɛ̃/	tinssions /tɛ̃.sjɔ̃/	tinssiez /tɛ̃.sje/	tinssent /tɛ̃s/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tiens /tjɛ̃/	—	tenons /tə.nɔ̃/	tenez /tə.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 [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

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-).

Conjugation of se tenir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	se tenir
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	se tenant /sə tə.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		tenu /tə.ny/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	me tiens /mə tjɛ̃/	te tiens /tə tjɛ̃/	se tient /sə tjɛ̃/	nous tenons /nu tə.nɔ̃/	vous tenez /vu tə.ne/	se tiennent /sə tjɛn/
	imperfect	me tenais /mə tə.nɛ/	te tenais /tə tə.nɛ/	se tenait /sə tə.nɛ/	nous tenions /nu tə.njɔ̃/	vous teniez /vu tə.nje/	se tenaient /sə tə.nɛ/
	past historic2	me tins /mə tɛ̃/	te tins /tə tɛ̃/	se tint /sə tɛ̃/	nous tînmes /nu tɛ̃m/	vous tîntes /vu tɛ̃t/	se tinrent /sə tɛ̃ʁ/
	future	me tiendrai /mə tjɛ̃.dʁe/	te tiendras /tə tjɛ̃.dʁa/	se tiendra /sə tjɛ̃.dʁa/	nous tiendrons /nu tjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/	vous tiendrez /vu tjɛ̃.dʁe/	se tiendront /sə tjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	me tiendrais /mə tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	te tiendrais /tə tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	se tiendrait /sə tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	nous tiendrions /nu tjɛ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/	vous tiendriez /vu tjɛ̃.dʁi.je/	se tiendraient /sə tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	me tienne /mə tjɛn/	te tiennes /tə tjɛn/	se tienne /sə tjɛn/	nous tenions /nu tə.njɔ̃/	vous teniez /vu tə.nje/	se tiennent /sə tjɛn/
	imperfect2	me tinsse /mə tɛ̃s/	te tinsses /tə tɛ̃s/	se tînt /sə tɛ̃/	nous tinssions /nu tɛ̃.sjɔ̃/	vous tinssiez /vu tɛ̃.sje/	se tinssent /sə tɛ̃s/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tiens-toi /tjɛ̃.twa/	—	tenons-nous /tə.nɔ̃.nu/	tenez-vous /tə.ne.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + 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 [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• à l’impossible nul n’est tenu
• compte tenu de
• mieux vaut tenir que courir
• ne tenir qu’à un cheveu
• ne tenir qu’à un fil
• n’avoir qu’à bien se tenir
• qu’à cela ne tienne
• se le tenir pour dit
• se tenir à carreau
• séance tenante
• s’en tenir là
• tenir à
• tenir à cœur
• tenir à l’œil
• tenir à quelque chose comme à la prunelle de ses yeux
• tenir au corps
• tenir au courant
• tenir au jus
• tenir bon
• tenir chaud
• tenir compagnie
• tenir compte
• tenir de
• tenir debout
• tenir en compte
• tenir en échec
• tenir en grande estime
• tenir en haleine
• tenir en haute estime
• tenir en place
• tenir en respect
• tenir la barre
• tenir la boutique
• tenir la cadence
• tenir la chandelle
• tenir la distance
• tenir la dragée haute
• tenir la jambe
• tenir la route
• tenir le bon bout
• tenir le coup
• tenir le haut du pavé
• tenir le pot droit
• tenir le rythme
• tenir les rênes
• tenir lieu
• tenir l’alcool
• tenir parole
• tenir pour acquis
• tenir pour acquis
• tenir rigueur
• tenir sa langue
• tenir table ouverte
• tenir tête

 

Related terms

• abstenir
• adtenir
• appartenir
• attenir
• contenir
• contretenir
• détenir
• maintenir
• obtenir
• retenir
• retenir à cœur
• soutenir
• tenir à
• tenir de
• tenir le coup
• tiens

 

Descendants

• Saint Dominican Creole French: tini

Further reading

• “tenir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 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 (Languedoc):

  (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.

    Conjugation of tenir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		tenir			avoir tenu
gerund		en tenant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		tenant
past participle		tenu
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	tieng, tien	tiens	tient	tenons	tenez	tienent
	imperfect	tenoie, teneie	tenoies, teneies	tenoit, teneit	teniiens, teniens	teniiez, teniez	tenoient, teneient
	preterite	tin	tenis	tint	tenimes	tenistes	tindrent, tinrent
	future	tendrai	tendras	tendra	tendrons	tendroiz, tendreiz, tendrez	tendront
	conditional	tendroie, tendreie	tendroies, tendreies	tendroit, tendreit	tendriiens, tendriens	tendriiez, tendriez	tendroient, tendreient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	tiegne	tiegnes	tiegne	tiegniens, tiegnons	tiegniez	tiegnent
	imperfect	tenisse	tenisses	tenist	tenissons, tenissiens	tenissoiz, tenissez, tenissiez	tenissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	tien	—	tenons	tenez	—

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