maintenir
French
Etymology
From Old French maintenir, from Vulgar Latin, Late Latin manūteneō, manūtenēre (“I support”), from Latin manū (“with the hand”) + teneō (“I hold”). Equivalent to main + tenir. Compare Spanish mantener, Portuguese manter, Italian mantenere.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɛ̃t.niʁ/
audio (file)
Verb
maintenir
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.
present participle | maintenant /mɛ̃t.nɑ̃/ | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
past participle | maintenu /mɛ̃t.ny/ | ||||||
infinitive | |||||||
simple | maintenir | ||||||
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
gerund1 | |||||||
simple | maintenant /mɛ̃t.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 | 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 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). |
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “maintenir” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Old French
Etymology
main + tenir, calque of Latin manus teneō or from Vulgar Latin, Late Latin manūteneō, manūtenēre (“I support”).
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.
simple | compound | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
infinitive | maintenir | avoir maintenu | |||||
gerund | en maintenant | Use the gerund of avoir followed by the 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 | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
past anterior | Use the preterite tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the 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 | Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
pluperfect | Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | tu | – | nos | vos | – | |
— | maintien | — | maintenons | maintenez | — |
Descendants
- English: to maintain
- French: maintenir