maintenir

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French maintenir, from Vulgar Latin, Late Latin manūtenēre (“to support”), from Latin manū (“with the hand”) + teneō (“to hold”). Equivalent to main +‎ tenir. Compare Spanish mantener, Portuguese manter, Italian mantenere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛ̃t.niʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

maintenir

1. to maintain
2. to stick to
3. (reflexive, se maintenir, of the weather) to stay fair
4. (reflexive, se maintenir) to persist
5. (reflexive, se maintenir) to keep up

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 maintenir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	maintenir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	maintenant /mɛ̃t.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		maintenu /mɛ̃t.ny/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	maintiens /mɛ̃.tjɛ̃/	maintiens /mɛ̃.tjɛ̃/	maintient /mɛ̃.tjɛ̃/	maintenons /mɛ̃t.nɔ̃/	maintenez /mɛ̃t.ne/	maintiennent /mɛ̃.tjɛn/
	imperfect	maintenais /mɛ̃t.nɛ/	maintenais /mɛ̃t.nɛ/	maintenait /mɛ̃t.nɛ/	maintenions /mɛ̃.tə.njɔ̃/	mainteniez /mɛ̃.tə.nje/	maintenaient /mɛ̃t.nɛ/
	past historic2	maintins /mɛ̃.tɛ̃/	maintins /mɛ̃.tɛ̃/	maintint /mɛ̃.tɛ̃/	maintînmes /mɛ̃.tɛ̃m/	maintîntes /mɛ̃.tɛ̃t/	maintinrent /mɛ̃.tɛ̃ʁ/
	future	maintiendrai /mɛ̃.tjɛ̃.dʁe/	maintiendras /mɛ̃.tjɛ̃.dʁa/	maintiendra /mɛ̃.tjɛ̃.dʁa/	maintiendrons /mɛ̃.tjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/	maintiendrez /mɛ̃.tjɛ̃.dʁe/	maintiendront /mɛ̃.tjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	maintiendrais /mɛ̃.tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	maintiendrais /mɛ̃.tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	maintiendrait /mɛ̃.tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	maintiendrions /mɛ̃.tjɛ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/	maintiendriez /mɛ̃.tjɛ̃.dʁi.je/	maintiendraient /mɛ̃.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	maintienne /mɛ̃.tjɛn/	maintiennes /mɛ̃.tjɛn/	maintienne /mɛ̃.tjɛn/	maintenions /mɛ̃.tə.njɔ̃/	mainteniez /mɛ̃.tə.nje/	maintiennent /mɛ̃.tjɛn/
	imperfect2	maintinsse /mɛ̃.tɛ̃s/	maintinsses /mɛ̃.tɛ̃s/	maintînt /mɛ̃.tɛ̃/	maintinssions /mɛ̃.tɛ̃.sjɔ̃/	maintinssiez /mɛ̃.tɛ̃.sje/	maintinssent /mɛ̃.tɛ̃s/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	maintiens /mɛ̃.tjɛ̃/	—	maintenons /mɛ̃t.nɔ̃/	maintenez /mɛ̃t.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).

Derived terms

• maintenant

Related terms

• maintien

Further reading

• “maintenir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Old French

Etymology

main +‎ tenir, calque of Latin manus teneō or from Vulgar Latin, Late Latin manūteneō, manūtenēre (“I support”).

Verb

maintenir

1. to maintain (to keep the same)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has a stressed present stem maintien distinct from the unstressed stem mainten, 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 maintenir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		maintenir			avoir maintenu
gerund		en maintenant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		maintenant
past participle		maintenu
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	maintieng, maintien	maintiens	maintient	maintenons	maintenez	maintienent
	imperfect	maintenoie, mainteneie	maintenoies, mainteneies	maintenoit, mainteneit	mainteniiens, mainteniens	mainteniiez, mainteniez	maintenoient, mainteneient
	preterite	maintin	maintenis	maintint	maintenimes	maintenistes	maintindrent, maintinrent
	future	maintendrai	maintendras	maintendra	maintendrons	maintendroiz, maintendreiz, maintendrez	maintendront
	conditional	maintendroie, maintendreie	maintendroies, maintendreies	maintendroit, maintendreit	maintendriiens, maintendriens	maintendriiez, maintendriez	maintendroient, maintendreient
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	maintiegne	maintiegnes	maintiegne	maintiegniens, maintiegnons	maintiegniez	maintiegnent
	imperfect	maintenisse	maintenisses	maintenist	maintenissons, maintenissiens	maintenissoiz, maintenissez, maintenissiez	maintenissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	maintien	—	maintenons	maintenez	—

Descendants

• French: maintenir
  • → Romanian: menține
• → Middle English: mayntenen
  • English: maintain
    • → Cebuano: mintin, mintinar
• → Middle High German: hanthaben (calque)
  • German: handhaben
  • → Middle Dutch: hanthaven
    • Dutch: handhaven
      • Afrikaans: handhaaf