• tindre,tendre

Inherited fromEarly Medieval Latintenīre, fromClassical Latintenēre with change of conjugation to-ir also found in Occitan and French.

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

• Audio(Catalonia):

  (file)

tenir (first-person singular presenttinc,first-person singular preteritetinguí,past participletingut);root stress:(Central,Valencia,Balearic) /e/

1. tohave,possess
2. tohold

• “tenir” inDiccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició,Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “tenir”, inGran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana,Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana,2025.
• “tenir” inDiccionari normatiu valencià,Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “tenir” inDiccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

• tegnir(ORB, broad)

Inherited fromEarly Medieval Latintenīre.

tenir(ORB, broad)

1. tohold

• tenir in DicoFranPro:Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – ondicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
• tenir in Lo trèsor Arpitan – onarpitan.eu

Inherited fromMiddle Frenchtenir, fromOld Frenchtenir, fromEarly Medieval Latintenīre, fromClassical Latintenēre.

• IPA^(key):/tə.niʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

tenir

1. (transitive) tohave; tohold
2. (transitive) tokeep
3. (intransitive) tostay; tohold

   tenir bon ―to hold fast, to hold tight

4. (reflexive) tohold on [withà‘to something’]

   La vienetient qu’à un fil. ―Lifehangs but by a thread.

   Elle descend ense tenant aux racines. ―She comes down using the roots for handles (literally, “She comes downholding on to the roots.”)

5. (reflexive) toholdoneself, to bestanding

   Ilse tenait dans le coin. ―Hestood in the corner.

6. (reflexive) tomaintain,remain in a certainposition ordisposition

   Tiens-toi droit ! ―Keep yourself straight!

   Ellese tient immobile sur la corde raide. ―Shestays still on the tightrope.

7. (reflexive) tobehave

   Synonym:secomporter

   Tiens-toi bien. ―Behave yourself.

8. (intransitive) to beattached (to), to befond (of), tohold dear[withà‘someone/something’]
9. (intransitive) tohold dear, to bekeen (about), toinsist (upon)[withà(+infinitive)oràce que(+subjunctiveclause)‘to do something’]
   • 1943,Antoine Saint-Exupéry, chapter X, inLe petit prince [The Little Prince], New York:Reynal & Hitchcock,page43:

     Car le roitenait essentiellement à ce que son autorité fût respectée.

     For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected.

10. (transitive) toconsider (something)[withpour‘as’]

    se letenir pour dit ―totake it as read

    tenir quelque chose pour acquis ―totake something for granted

    tenir quelqu’un pour rien ―to see someone as insignificant, to treat someone as insignificant

11. (intransitive) tosupport[withpour‘someone’]
12. (intransitive) tohold, todefend[withcontre‘against something’]
13. (reflexive,Quebec,slang) tohang out, tohang around[withavec‘with someone’]
    • 1975, “Le Vent de la ville”, inPassagers‎^[1], performed byBeau Dommage, 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

      Iused to hang out in the west end; exile doesn't scare me anymore.

    • 1995, “On jase de toi”, inNoir Silence‎^[2], performed by Noir Silence, Disques MPV,MPVCD-1353:

      Regarde donc ce qu’est devenu le p’tit gars d’à côté // Yse tient avec une gang de drogués

      Look what happened with the boy next door // Hehangs around with a bunch of drug addicts

This is a verb in a group of-ir verbs. All verbs ending in-tenir, such ascontenir anddétenir, 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-).

This is a verb in a group of-ir verbs. All verbs ending in-tenir, such ascontenir anddétenir, 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-).

• Saint Dominican Creole French:tini

• “tenir”, inTrésor de la langue française informatisé[Digitized Treasury of the French Language],2012.

• nitre,rient,terni,Terni

tenir

1. past infinitive oftenar

FromOld Frenchtenir.

tenir

1. tohold

• French:tenir
  • Saint Dominican Creole French:tini

• Godefroy, Frédéric,Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes duIX^e auXV^e siècle (1881) (tenir, supplement)

FromOld Frenchtenir, fromEarly Medieval Latintenīre, fromClassical Latintenēre.

tenir

1. topossess; tohave
2. tohold

FromOld Occitantenir, fromEarly Medieval Latintenīre, fromLatintenēre.

• Audio(Languedoc):

  (file)

tenir

1. Alternative form ofténer

• tenoir(rare; < Latintenēre)

Inherited fromEarly Medieval Latintenīre, fromClassical Latintenēre.

tenir

1. topossess; tohave
2. tohold

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has a stressed present stemtien distinct from the unstressed stemten, as well as other irregularities. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

• 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 imperativetenez)

• tener

Inherited fromEarly Medieval Latintenīre, fromClassical Latintenēre.

tenir

1. topossess; tohave
2. tohold

• Occitan:téner,tendre,ténguer,tenir,tiéner

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “tenēre”, inFranzösisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes13: T–Ti,page209