plaindre

French

Etymology

From Middle French plaindre, pleindre, from Old French plaindre, pleindre, from Latin plangere, present active infinitive of plangō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂k-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plɛ̃dʁ/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

plaindre

1. to pity
2. (reflexive) to complain

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like peindre. It uses the same endings as rendre or vendre, but its -nd- becomes -gn- before a vowel, and its past participle ends in 't' instead of a vowel.

Conjugation of plaindre (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	plaindre
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	plaignant /plɛ.ɲɑ̃/ or /ple.ɲɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		plaint /plɛ̃/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	plains /plɛ̃/	plains /plɛ̃/	plaint /plɛ̃/	plaignons /plɛ.ɲɔ̃/ or /ple.ɲɔ̃/	plaignez /plɛ.ɲe/ or /ple.ɲe/	plaignent /plɛɲ/
	imperfect	plaignais /plɛ.ɲɛ/ or /ple.ɲɛ/	plaignais /plɛ.ɲɛ/ or /ple.ɲɛ/	plaignait /plɛ.ɲɛ/ or /ple.ɲɛ/	plaignions /plɛ.ɲjɔ̃/ or /ple.ɲjɔ̃/	plaigniez /plɛ.ɲje/ or /ple.ɲje/	plaignaient /plɛ.ɲɛ/ or /ple.ɲɛ/
	past historic2	plaignis /plɛ.ɲi/ or /ple.ɲi/	plaignis /plɛ.ɲi/ or /ple.ɲi/	plaignit /plɛ.ɲi/ or /ple.ɲi/	plaignîmes /plɛ.ɲim/ or /ple.ɲim/	plaignîtes /plɛ.ɲit/ or /ple.ɲit/	plaignirent /plɛ.ɲiʁ/ or /ple.ɲiʁ/
	future	plaindrai /plɛ̃.dʁe/	plaindras /plɛ̃.dʁa/	plaindra /plɛ̃.dʁa/	plaindrons /plɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/	plaindrez /plɛ̃.dʁe/	plaindront /plɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	plaindrais /plɛ̃.dʁɛ/	plaindrais /plɛ̃.dʁɛ/	plaindrait /plɛ̃.dʁɛ/	plaindrions /plɛ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/	plaindriez /plɛ̃.dʁi.je/	plaindraient /plɛ̃.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	plaigne /plɛɲ/	plaignes /plɛɲ/	plaigne /plɛɲ/	plaignions /plɛ.ɲjɔ̃/ or /ple.ɲjɔ̃/	plaigniez /plɛ.ɲje/ or /ple.ɲje/	plaignent /plɛɲ/
	imperfect2	plaignisse /plɛ.ɲis/ or /ple.ɲis/	plaignisses /plɛ.ɲis/ or /ple.ɲis/	plaignît /plɛ.ɲi/ or /ple.ɲi/	plaignissions /plɛ.ɲi.sjɔ̃/ or /ple.ɲi.sjɔ̃/	plaignissiez /plɛ.ɲi.sje/ or /ple.ɲi.sje/	plaignissent /plɛ.ɲis/ or /ple.ɲis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	plains /plɛ̃/	—	plaignons /plɛ.ɲɔ̃/ or /ple.ɲɔ̃/	plaignez /plɛ.ɲe/ or /ple.ɲe/	—
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

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

---

Old French

Alternative forms

• pleindre

Etymology

From Latin plangere, present active infinitive of plangō.

Verb

plaindre

1. (reflexive, se plaindre) to cry; to weep
   • circa 1170, Wace, Le Roman de Rou:

     Mult oïssiez plorer e plaindre.

     There was much crying and wailing.

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb ends in a palatal stem, so there is an extra i before the e of some endings. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		plaindre			avoir plaint
gerund		en plaignant			Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle
present participle		plaignant
past participle		plaint
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	plaing	plainz	plaint	plaignons	plaigniez	plaignent
	imperfect	plaignoie, plaigneie	plaignoies, plaigneies	plaignoit, plaigneit	plaigniiens, plaigniens	plaigniiez, plaigniez	plaignoient, plaigneient
	preterite	plains	plainsis	plainst	plainsimes	plainsistes	plainstrent
	future	plaindrai	plaindras	plaindra	plaindrons	plaindroiz, plaindreiz, plaindrez	plaindront
	conditional	plaindroie, plaindreie	plaindroies, plaindreies	plaindroit, plaindreit	plaindriiens, plaindriens	plaindriiez, plaindriez	plaindroient, plaindreient
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior	Use the preterite tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	plaigne, plange	plaignes, planges	plaigne, plange	plaigniens, plaignons, plangiens, planjons	plaigniez, plangiez	plaignent, plangent
	imperfect	plainsisse	plainsisses	plainsist	plainsissons, plainsissiens	plainsissoiz, plainsissez, plainsissiez	plainsissent
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	plaing	—	plaignons	plaigniez	—

Related terms

• plaignant
• plainte
• plaintif

Descendants

• Middle French: plaindre, pleindre
  • French: plaindre