mener

French

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin mina

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin minō

Old French mener

French mener

Inherited from Old French mener, from Latin mināre, collateral form of minārī.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mə.ne/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Verb

mener

1. (transitive) to lead, to take

   Le bus va nous mener au château.

   The bus will lead us to the castle.

   1677, Guy Miège, A New French Dictionary. "Mener un Criminel au Gibet, to conduct a Malefactor to the Gallows."

2. to lead, to run, to take charge

   Louis va mener ce cours.

   Louis will lead this lesson.

3. to lead, to be leading, to be in the lead

   L'équipe bleue mène 2 à 0.

   The blue team is leading 2–0.

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like parler, except the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-, as in the third-person singular present indicative il mène and the third-person singular future indicative il mènera.

Conjugation of mener (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	mener
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	menant /mə.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		mené /mə.ne/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	mène /mɛn/	mènes /mɛn/	mène /mɛn/	menons /mə.nɔ̃/	menez /mə.ne/	mènent /mɛn/
	imperfect	menais /mə.nɛ/	menais /mə.nɛ/	menait /mə.nɛ/	menions /mə.njɔ̃/	meniez /mə.nje/	menaient /mə.nɛ/
	past historic2	menai /mə.ne/	menas /mə.na/	mena /mə.na/	menâmes /mə.nam/	menâtes /mə.nat/	menèrent /mə.nɛʁ/
	future	mènerai /mɛn.ʁe/	mèneras /mɛn.ʁa/	mènera /mɛn.ʁa/	mènerons /mɛn.ʁɔ̃/	mènerez /mɛn.ʁe/	mèneront /mɛn.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	mènerais /mɛn.ʁɛ/	mènerais /mɛn.ʁɛ/	mènerait /mɛn.ʁɛ/	mènerions /mɛ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /me.nə.ʁjɔ̃/	mèneriez /mɛ.nə.ʁje/ or /me.nə.ʁje/	mèneraient /mɛn.ʁɛ/
(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	mène /mɛn/	mènes /mɛn/	mène /mɛn/	menions /mə.njɔ̃/	meniez /mə.nje/	mènent /mɛn/
	imperfect2	menasse /mə.nas/	menasses /mə.nas/	menât /mə.na/	menassions /mə.na.sjɔ̃/	menassiez /mə.na.sje/	menassent /mə.nas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	mène /mɛn/	—	menons /mə.nɔ̃/	menez /mə.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).

Antonyms

• suivre

Derived terms

• mener à bien
• mener à la baguette
• mener de front
• mener en bateau
• mener grand train
• mener la danse
• mener la vie à grandes guides
• mener par le bout du nez
• mener une vie de bâton de chaise
• ne pas en mener large
• tous les chemins mènent à Rome

Related terms

• amener
• emmener
• meneur

Further reading

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

Ladin

Etymology

(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?) Inherited from Latin mināre, collateral form of minārī.

Verb

mener

1. to take or lead (someone somewhere)

Conjugation

• Ladin conjugation varies from one region to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of mener (first conjugation, irregular)

infinitive	mener, mené
auxiliary verb	avei		gerund		menan
past participle	mené
person	singular			plural
	first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative	ie	tu	el / ela	nos	vos	ei / eles
present	meine, meineie	meines, meineis	meina, meineia, menea	menon	meneis	meina, meineia
imperfect	menove	menoves	menova	menovan	menovais	menova
future	menaré	menaras	menarà	menaron	menareis	menarà
subjunctive	che ie	che tu	che el / ela	che nos	che vos	che ei / eles
present	meine, meineie	meines, meineis	meine, meineie	menon	meneis	meine
imperfect	menasse	menasses	menassa	menassan	menassais	menassa
imperative	–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
	—	meina, meineia	—	menon	menede	—

Norman

Verb

mener

1. alternative form of m'ner

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

mener

1. present tense of mene

   (Can we add an example for this sense? )

Old French

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin mina

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin minō

Old French mener

Inherited from Latin mināre, collateral form of minārī.

Verb

mener

1. (transitive) to lead (encourage something or someone to go somewhere)

   (Can we add an example for this sense? )

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. It has two stems, a unstressed one in -men- that appears in most forms and a stressed one in -mein- (also -main-) that appears in parts of the present indicative, subjunctive and imperative. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of mener (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		mener			avoir mené
gerund		en menant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		menant
past participle		mené
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	mein, main	meines, maines	meine, maine	menons	menez	meinent, mainent
	imperfect	menoie, meneie, menoe, meneve	menoies, meneies, menoes, meneves	menoit, meneit, menot, meneve	meniiens, meniens	meniiez, meniez	menoient, meneient, menoent, menevent
	preterite	menai	menas	mena	menames	menastes	menerent
	future	menerai	meneras	menera	menerons	meneroiz, menereiz, menerez	meneront
	conditional	meneroie, menereie	meneroies, menereies	meneroit, menereit	meneriiens, meneriens	meneriiez, meneriez	meneroient, menereient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	mein, main	meins, mains	meint, maint	menons	menez	meinent, mainent
	imperfect	menasse	menasses	menast	menissons, menissiens	menissoiz, menissez, menissiez	menassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	meine, maine	—	menons	menez	—

Related terms

• amener
• enmener

Descendants

• Bourguignon: moiner
• Middle French: mener
  • French: mener
• Norman: (Jersey) m'ner, mener
• Picard: mner
• → German: mennen

Further reading

• “mener”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (mener)
• mener on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub