entretenir

Catalan

Etymology

From entre +‎ tenir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ən.tɾə.təˈni]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [en.tɾe.teˈniɾ]
• Rhymes: -i(ɾ)

Verb

entretenir (first-person singular present entretinc, first-person singular preterite entretinguí, past participle entretingut); root stress: (Central, Valencian, Balearic) /e/

1. to delay, hold up

   Synonym: retenir

2. to entertain

   Synonyms: divertir, distreure

3. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to waste time, to dawdle
4. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to be delayed

   Synonym: retardar-se

5. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to amuse oneself

   Synonym: distreure's

Conjugation

    Conjugation of entretenir (third conjugation, without -eix-, irregular, with velar infix)

infinitive			entretenir
gerund			entretenint
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		entretingut		entretinguda
		plural		entretinguts		entretingudes
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	entretinc	entretens	entreté	entretenim	entreteniu	entretenen
	imperfect	entretenia	entretenies	entretenia	entreteníem	entreteníeu	entretenien
	future	entretindré	entretindràs	entretindrà	entretindrem	entretindreu	entretindran
	preterite	entretinguí	entretingueres	entretingué	entretinguérem	entretinguéreu	entretingueren
	conditional	entretindria	entretindries	entretindria	entretindríem	entretindríeu	entretindrien
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	entretingui	entretinguis	entretingui	entretinguem	entretingueu	entretinguin
	imperfect	entretingués	entretinguessis	entretingués	entretinguéssim	entretinguéssiu	entretinguessin
imperative		—	tu	vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres vós	vostès
	affirmative	—	entretén, entretingues	entretingui	entretinguem	entreteniu, entretingueu	entretinguin
	negative (no)	—	no entretinguis	no entretingui	no entretinguem	no entretingueu	no entretinguin

Derived terms

• entreteniment
• entretenir-se

Further reading

• “entretenir” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “entretenir”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “entretenir” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “entretenir” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French entretenir, from Old French entretenir; equivalent to entre + tenir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.tʁə.t(ə).niʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

entretenir

1. (transitive) to maintain, to look after

   Le Canada entretient une relation de premier plan avec les États-Unis, pays avec lequel il partage la plus longue frontière non défendue du monde.

   Canada maintains a high-profile relationship with the United States, a country with which it shares the longest undefended border in the world.

2. (transitive) to support (e.g a family)
3. (transitive, figuratively) to fuel, to keep something going
4. (reflexive) to have a discussion (with someone)
5. (reflexive) to keep fit

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 entretenir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	entretenir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	entretenant /ɑ̃.tʁə.t(ə).nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		entretenu /ɑ̃.tʁə.t(ə).ny/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	entretiens /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃/	entretiens /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃/	entretient /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃/	entretenons /ɑ̃.tʁə.t(ə).nɔ̃/	entretenez /ɑ̃.tʁə.t(ə).ne/	entretiennent /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛn/
	imperfect	entretenais /ɑ̃.tʁə.t(ə).nɛ/	entretenais /ɑ̃.tʁə.t(ə).nɛ/	entretenait /ɑ̃.tʁə.t(ə).nɛ/	entretenions /ɑ̃.tʁə.tə.njɔ̃/	entreteniez /ɑ̃.tʁə.tə.nje/	entretenaient /ɑ̃.tʁə.t(ə).nɛ/
	past historic2	entretins /ɑ̃.tʁə.tɛ̃/	entretins /ɑ̃.tʁə.tɛ̃/	entretint /ɑ̃.tʁə.tɛ̃/	entretînmes /ɑ̃.tʁə.tɛ̃m/	entretîntes /ɑ̃.tʁə.tɛ̃t/	entretinrent /ɑ̃.tʁə.tɛ̃ʁ/
	future	entretiendrai /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃.dʁe/	entretiendras /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃.dʁa/	entretiendra /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃.dʁa/	entretiendrons /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/	entretiendrez /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃.dʁe/	entretiendront /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	entretiendrais /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	entretiendrais /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	entretiendrait /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	entretiendrions /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/	entretiendriez /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃.dʁi.je/	entretiendraient /ɑ̃.tʁə.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	entretienne /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛn/	entretiennes /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛn/	entretienne /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛn/	entretenions /ɑ̃.tʁə.tə.njɔ̃/	entreteniez /ɑ̃.tʁə.tə.nje/	entretiennent /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛn/
	imperfect2	entretinsse /ɑ̃.tʁə.tɛ̃s/	entretinsses /ɑ̃.tʁə.tɛ̃s/	entretînt /ɑ̃.tʁə.tɛ̃/	entretinssions /ɑ̃.tʁə.tɛ̃.sjɔ̃/	entretinssiez /ɑ̃.tʁə.tɛ̃.sje/	entretinssent /ɑ̃.tʁə.tɛ̃s/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	entretiens /ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃/	—	entretenons /ɑ̃.tʁə.t(ə).nɔ̃/	entretenez /ɑ̃.tʁə.t(ə).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

• entretien

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• inertèrent

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French entretenir.

Verb

entretenir

1. (transitive) to maintain; to look after

Descendants

• English: entertain
• French: entretenir

Old French

Etymology

entre + tenir.

Verb

entretenir

1. (reflexive, s'entretenir) to support one another

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has a stressed present stem entretien distinct from the unstressed stem entreten, as well as other irregularities. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of s'entretenir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		s'entretenir			estre entretenu
gerund		en entretenant			gerund of estre + past participle
present participle		entretenant
past participle		entretenu
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	m'entretieng, m'entretien	t'entretiens	s'entretient	nos entretenons	vos entretenez	s'entretienent
	imperfect	m'entretenoie, m'entreteneie	t'entretenoies, t'entreteneies	s'entretenoit, s'entreteneit	nos entreteniiens, nos entreteniens	vos entreteniiez, vos entreteniez	s'entretenoient, s'entreteneient
	preterite	m'entretin	t'entretenis	s'entretint	nos entretenimes	vos entretenistes	s'entretindrent, s'entretinrent
	future	m'entretendrai	t'entretendras	s'entretendra	nos entretendrons	vos entretendroiz, vos entretendreiz, vos entretendrez	s'entretendront
	conditional	m'entretendroie, m'entretendreie	t'entretendroies, t'entretendreies	s'entretendroit, s'entretendreit	nos entretendriiens, nos entretendriens	vos entretendriiez, vos entretendriez	s'entretendroient, s'entretendreient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of estre + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of estre + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of estre + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of estre + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of estre + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	m'entretiegne	t'entretiegnes	s'entretiegne	nos entretiegniens, nos entretiegnons	vos entretiegniez	s'entretiegnent
	imperfect	m'entretenisse	t'entretenisses	s'entretenist	nos entretenissons, nos entretenissiens	vos entretenissoiz, vos entretenissez, vos entretenissiez	s'entretenissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of estre + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of estre + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	entretien-toi	—	entretenons-nos	entretenez-vos	—

Descendants

• Middle French: entretenir
  • → English: entertain
  • French: entretenir