s'y prendre
French
Pronunciation
Verb
- Template:indtr (informal) to go about (something)
- bien s’y prendre ― to do things the right way; to manage well
- Tu t’y prends mal ― You're not doing this properly.
- s’y prendre à l’avance ― to take care of something in advance, ahead of time
Conjugation
This verb 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 prenn- before mute 'e' and the stem pren- elsewhere.
- In the past participle, and in the past historic and the imperfect subjunctive, its conjugation resembles that of mettre.
Conjugation of s'y prendre (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive | simple | s'y prendre | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compound | s'y être + past participle | ||||||
present participle or gerund1 | simple | s’y prenant /si pʁə.nɑ̃/ | |||||
compound | s'y étant + past participle | ||||||
past participle | pris /pʁi/ | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | m’y prends /mi pʁɑ̃/ |
t’y prends /ti pʁɑ̃/ |
s’y prend /si pʁɑ̃/ |
nous y prenons /nu.z‿i pʁə.nɔ̃/ |
vous y prenez /vu.z‿i pʁə.ne/ |
s’y prennent /si pʁɛn/ |
imperfect | m’y prenais /mi pʁə.nɛ/ |
t’y prenais /ti pʁə.nɛ/ |
s’y prenait /si pʁə.nɛ/ |
nous y prenions /nu.z‿i pʁə.njɔ̃/ |
vous y preniez /vu.z‿i pʁə.nje/ |
s’y prenaient /si pʁə.nɛ/ | |
past historic2 | m’y pris /mi pʁi/ |
t’y pris /ti pʁi/ |
s’y prit /si pʁi/ |
nous y prîmes /nu.z‿i pʁim/ |
vous y prîtes /vu.z‿i pʁit/ |
s’y prirent /si pʁiʁ/ | |
future | m’y prendrai /mi pʁɑ̃.dʁe/ |
t’y prendras /ti pʁɑ̃.dʁa/ |
s’y prendra /si pʁɑ̃.dʁa/ |
nous y prendrons /nu.z‿i pʁɑ̃.dʁɔ̃/ |
vous y prendrez /vu.z‿i pʁɑ̃.dʁe/ |
s’y prendront /si pʁɑ̃.dʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | m’y prendrais /mi pʁɑ̃.dʁɛ/ |
t’y prendrais /ti pʁɑ̃.dʁɛ/ |
s’y prendrait /si pʁɑ̃.dʁɛ/ |
nous y prendrions /nu.z‿i pʁɑ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/ |
vous y prendriez /vu.z‿i pʁɑ̃.dʁi.je/ |
s’y prendraient /si pʁɑ̃.dʁɛ/ | |
(compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of s'y être + past participle | |||||
pluperfect | imperfect indicative of s'y être + past participle | ||||||
past anterior2 | past historic of s'y être + past participle | ||||||
future perfect | future of s'y être + past participle | ||||||
conditional perfect | conditional of s'y être + past participle | ||||||
subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | m’y prenne /mi pʁɛn/ |
t’y prennes /ti pʁɛn/ |
s’y prenne /si pʁɛn/ |
nous y prenions /nu.z‿i pʁə.njɔ̃/ |
vous y preniez /vu.z‿i pʁə.nje/ |
s’y prennent /si pʁɛn/ |
imperfect2 | m’y prisse /mi pʁis/ |
t’y prisses /ti pʁis/ |
s’y prît /si pʁi/ |
nous y prissions /nu.z‿i pʁi.sjɔ̃/ |
vous y prissiez /vu.z‿i pʁi.sje/ |
s’y prissent /si pʁis/ | |
(compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of s'y être + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of s'y être + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | prends-t’y /pʁɑ̃.ti/ |
— | prenons-nous-y /pʁə.nɔ̃.nu.zi/ |
prenez-vous-y /pʁə.ne.vu.zi/ |
— | |
compound | — | simple imperative of s'y être + past participle | — | simple imperative of s'y être + past participle | simple imperative of s'y être + 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). |