comprendre

See also: comprendré

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin comprendere, late form of comprehendō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kumˈpɛn.dɾə], (proscribed spelling pronunciation) [kumˈpɾɛn.dɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [komˈpən.dɾə], (proscribed spelling pronunciation) [komˈpɾən.dɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [komˈpen.dɾe], (proscribed spelling pronunciation) [komˈpɾen.dɾe]

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

comprendre (first-person singular present comprenc, first-person singular preterite comprenguí, past participle comprès); root stress: (Central) /ɛ/; (Valencian) /e/; (Balearic) /ə/

1. to include

   Synonym: incloure

2. to incorporate, to contain

   Synonyms: incorporar, contenir

3. to comprehend, to understand, to grasp

   Synonym: entendre

Conjugation

    Conjugation of comprendre (second conjugation, irregular, with velar infix)

infinitive			comprendre
gerund			comprenent
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		comprès		compresa
		plural		compresos		compreses
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	comprenc	comprens	comprèn	comprenem	compreneu	comprenen
	imperfect	comprenia	comprenies	comprenia	compreníem	compreníeu	comprenien
	future	comprendré	comprendràs	comprendrà	comprendrem	comprendreu	comprendran
	preterite	comprenguí	comprengueres	comprengué	comprenguérem	comprenguéreu	comprengueren
	conditional	comprendria	comprendries	comprendria	comprendríem	comprendríeu	comprendrien
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	comprengui	comprenguis	comprengui	comprenguem	comprengueu	comprenguin
	imperfect	comprengués	comprenguessis	comprengués	comprenguéssim	comprenguéssiu	comprenguessin
imperative		—	tu	vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres vós	vostès
	affirmative	—	comprèn	comprengui	comprenguem	compreneu	comprenguin
	negative (no)	—	no comprenguis	no comprengui	no comprenguem	no comprengueu	no comprenguin

Related terms

• comprensió
• prendre

References

• 1998, Joan Baptista Xuriguera, Els Verbs Catalans Conjugats, 35th edition, Editorial Claret, →ISBN, page 24:
• “comprendre” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French, from Latin comprehendere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃dʁ/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

comprendre

1. to understand, comprehend

   J’ai compris maintenant. ― I understand now. (lit. I have understood now.)

   Il est trop intelligent pour ne pas comprendre ce que vous lui avez dit.

   He is too intelligent not to understand what you told him.

   Est-ce que vous avez bien compris ?

   Did you understand?

   « Est-ce que tu comprends ce qu’il dit ? » « Je ne comprends même pas ce que je dis moi. »

   "Do you understand what he's saying?" "I don't even understand what I'm saying."

   • 2014, Paradis, Garde-le pour toi:

     C’est sûr que t’as déjà de la compagnie. J’ comprendrai, t’inquiète, si tu m’oublies. Mais si un jour tu te rappelais de moi, je serais certainement pas loin d’ toi.

     You sure have company. I'll understand, don't worry, if you forget me. But if one day you do remember me, I'll certainly be around.

2. to comprise, include
3. (takes a reflexive pronoun, reciprocal) to know each other (well); to get on well, to get along well

   Quoique leurs goûts fussent différents, ces deux amis se comprenaient à merveille.

   Although their tastes were different, those two friends got on wondefully well

4. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to be comprehensible or conceivable

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated on the model of prendre. That means it is quite irregular, with the following patterns:

• In the infinitive, in the singular forms of the present indicative, and in the future and the conditional, it is conjugated like rendre, perdre, etc. (sometimes called the regular -re verbs).
• In the plural forms of the present indicative and imperative, in the imperfect indicative, in the present subjunctive, and in the present participle, it is conjugated like appeler or jeter, using the stem comprenn- before mute 'e' and the stem compren- elsewhere.
• In the past participle, and in the past historic and the imperfect subjunctive, its conjugation resembles that of mettre.

Conjugation of comprendre (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	comprendre
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	comprenant /kɔ̃.pʁə.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		compris /kɔ̃.pʁi/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	comprends /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃/	comprends /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃/	comprend /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃/	comprenons /kɔ̃.pʁə.nɔ̃/	comprenez /kɔ̃.pʁə.ne/	comprennent /kɔ̃.pʁɛn/
	imperfect	comprenais /kɔ̃.pʁə.nɛ/	comprenais /kɔ̃.pʁə.nɛ/	comprenait /kɔ̃.pʁə.nɛ/	comprenions /kɔ̃.pʁə.njɔ̃/	compreniez /kɔ̃.pʁə.nje/	comprenaient /kɔ̃.pʁə.nɛ/
	past historic2	compris /kɔ̃.pʁi/	compris /kɔ̃.pʁi/	comprit /kɔ̃.pʁi/	comprîmes /kɔ̃.pʁim/	comprîtes /kɔ̃.pʁit/	comprirent /kɔ̃.pʁiʁ/
	future	comprendrai /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃.dʁe/	comprendras /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃.dʁa/	comprendra /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃.dʁa/	comprendrons /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃.dʁɔ̃/	comprendrez /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃.dʁe/	comprendront /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	comprendrais /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃.dʁɛ/	comprendrais /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃.dʁɛ/	comprendrait /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃.dʁɛ/	comprendrions /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/	comprendriez /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃.dʁi.je/	comprendraient /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃.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	comprenne /kɔ̃.pʁɛn/	comprennes /kɔ̃.pʁɛn/	comprenne /kɔ̃.pʁɛn/	comprenions /kɔ̃.pʁə.njɔ̃/	compreniez /kɔ̃.pʁə.nje/	comprennent /kɔ̃.pʁɛn/
	imperfect2	comprisse /kɔ̃.pʁis/	comprisses /kɔ̃.pʁis/	comprît /kɔ̃.pʁi/	comprissions /kɔ̃.pʁi.sjɔ̃/	comprissiez /kɔ̃.pʁi.sje/	comprissent /kɔ̃.pʁis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	comprends /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃/	—	comprenons /kɔ̃.pʁə.nɔ̃/	comprenez /kɔ̃.pʁə.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).

Derived terms

• je ne comprends pas

Related terms

• compréhensible
• compréhension
• prendre

Further reading

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

Occitan

Alternative forms

• compenre (Provençal)
• comprener (Limousin, Provençal)
• compréner (Languedoc)
• coumprendre (obsolete)

Verb

comprendre (Provençal)

1. (transitive) to understand

Further reading

• Simon-Jude Honnorat, Dictionnaire Provençal-Français (tome 1, A-D), Repos, Digne, 1846, page 569. (as coumprendre).