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”; original English: Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Red-headed League” (short story), in The Strand Magazine, 1891 August:

     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.

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. 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 attenir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	attenir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	attenant /at.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		attenu /at.ny/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	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 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).

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• entrait, étirant, inertât, itérant, nitrate, rentait, tartine