maintenir
French edit
Etymology edit
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 edit
Verb edit
maintenir
- to maintain
- to stick to
- (reflexive, se maintenir, of the weather) to stay fair
- (reflexive, se maintenir) to persist
- (reflexive, se maintenir) to keep up
Conjugation edit
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 | – | – | – | ||||
| 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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Further reading edit
- “maintenir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Old French edit
Etymology edit
main + tenir, calque of Latin manus teneō or from Vulgar Latin, Late Latin manūteneō, manūtenēre (“I support”).
Verb edit
maintenir
- to maintain (to keep the same)
Conjugation edit
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 | — | ||