attenir

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Vulgar Latin *attenire, from Latin attinere (or borrowed directly from this word and adapted in conjugation to tenir), but modern uses are likely back-formations from the more current adjective attenant.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /at.niʁ/
  • Audio(file)

Verb

attenir

  1. (archaic, inanimate, intransitive) to border; be next to; abut
    • 1956, Bernard Tourville & Evelyn Colomb (translators), Arthur Conan Doyle (author), “La Ligue des Rouquins”:
      En me promenant dans le coin, je constatai que la banque de la City et de la Banlieue attenait à la maison de Jabez Wilson.
      I walked round the corner, saw the City and Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises. Original English: Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Red-headed League” (short story), in The Strand Magazine, 1891 August.

Usage notes
  • The object is introduced by the preposition à.

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.

Conjugation of attenir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
present participle attenant
/at.nɑ̃/
past participle attenu
/at.ny/
infinitive
simple attenir
compound avoir + past participle
gerund1
simple attenant
/at.nɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses)		 present attiens
/a.tjɛ̃/		 attiens
/a.tjɛ̃/		 attient
/a.tjɛ̃/		 attenons
/at.nɔ̃/		 attenez
/at.ne/		 attiennent
/a.tjɛn/
imperfect attenais
/at.nɛ/		 attenais
/at.nɛ/		 attenait
/at.nɛ/		 attenions
/a.tə.njɔ̃/		 atteniez
/a.tə.nje/		 attenaient
/at.nɛ/
past historic2 attins
/a.tɛ̃/		 attins
/a.tɛ̃/		 attint
/a.tɛ̃/		 attînmes
/a.tɛ̃m/		 attîntes
/a.tɛ̃t/		 attinrent
/a.tɛ̃ʁ/
future attiendrai
/a.tjɛ̃.dʁe/		 attiendras
/a.tjɛ̃.dʁa/		 attiendra
/a.tjɛ̃.dʁa/		 attiendrons
/a.tjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/		 attiendrez
/a.tjɛ̃.dʁe/		 attiendront
/a.tjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/
conditional attiendrais
/a.tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/		 attiendrais
/a.tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/		 attiendrait
/a.tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/		 attiendrions
/a.tjɛ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/		 attiendriez
/a.tjɛ̃.dʁi.je/		 attiendraient
/a.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 attienne
/a.tjɛn/		 attiennes
/a.tjɛn/		 attienne
/a.tjɛn/		 attenions
/a.tə.njɔ̃/		 atteniez
/a.tə.nje/		 attiennent
/a.tjɛn/
imperfect2 attinsse
/a.tɛ̃s/		 attinsses
/a.tɛ̃s/		 attînt
/a.tɛ̃/		 attinssions
/a.tɛ̃.sjɔ̃/		 attinssiez
/a.tɛ̃.sje/		 attinssent
/a.tɛ̃s/
(compound
tenses)		 past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — attiens
/a.tjɛ̃/		 — attenons
/at.nɔ̃/		 attenez
/at.ne/		 —
compound — simple imperative of avoir + past participle — simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle —
1 Only usable with preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

Anagrams
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.