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
Verb
attenir
- (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.
- 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.
- 1956, Bernard Tourville & Evelyn Colomb (translators), Arthur Conan Doyle (author), “La Ligue des Rouquins”:
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 | – | – | – | ||||
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:
(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
Categories:
- French terms borrowed from Vulgar Latin
- French terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French verbs
- French terms with archaic senses
- French intransitive verbs
- French verbs with conjugation tenir
- French third group verbs
- French irregular verbs