soutenir

French

Etymology

From Middle French soubtenir, from Old French sustenir, soustenir, from Vulgar Latin *sustenīre, from Latin sustinēre, present active infinitive of sustineō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sut.niʁ/

• audio:

  (file)

Verb

soutenir

1. to support
2. to keep up
3. (used with que) to maintain (that)
4. to argue

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 soutenir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	soutenir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	soutenant /sut.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		soutenu /sut.ny/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	soutiens /su.tjɛ̃/	soutiens /su.tjɛ̃/	soutient /su.tjɛ̃/	soutenons /sut.nɔ̃/	soutenez /sut.ne/	soutiennent /su.tjɛn/
	imperfect	soutenais /sut.nɛ/	soutenais /sut.nɛ/	soutenait /sut.nɛ/	soutenions /su.tə.njɔ̃/	souteniez /su.tə.nje/	soutenaient /sut.nɛ/
	past historic2	soutins /su.tɛ̃/	soutins /su.tɛ̃/	soutint /su.tɛ̃/	soutînmes /su.tɛ̃m/	soutîntes /su.tɛ̃t/	soutinrent /su.tɛ̃ʁ/
	future	soutiendrai /su.tjɛ̃.dʁe/	soutiendras /su.tjɛ̃.dʁa/	soutiendra /su.tjɛ̃.dʁa/	soutiendrons /su.tjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/	soutiendrez /su.tjɛ̃.dʁe/	soutiendront /su.tjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	soutiendrais /su.tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	soutiendrais /su.tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	soutiendrait /su.tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	soutiendrions /su.tjɛ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/	soutiendriez /su.tjɛ̃.dʁi.je/	soutiendraient /su.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	soutienne /su.tjɛn/	soutiennes /su.tjɛn/	soutienne /su.tjɛn/	soutenions /su.tə.njɔ̃/	souteniez /su.tə.nje/	soutiennent /su.tjɛn/
	imperfect2	soutinsse /su.tɛ̃s/	soutinsses /su.tɛ̃s/	soutînt /su.tɛ̃/	soutinssions /su.tɛ̃.sjɔ̃/	soutinssiez /su.tɛ̃.sje/	soutinssent /su.tɛ̃s/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	soutiens /su.tjɛ̃/	—	soutenons /sut.nɔ̃/	soutenez /sut.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).

Related terms

• soutenu
• soutien

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• sourient, tuerions