abstenir

Catalan

Verb

abstenir

1. only used in s'... abstenir, syntactic variant of abstenir-se, infinitive of abstenir-se

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French abstenir, borrowed from Latin abstinēre (with conjugation adapted to French tenir), from abs + teneō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ap.stə.niʁ/
• Rhymes: -iʁ

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Verb

abstenir

1. (pronominal) to abstain

Guy Miège, French-English Dictionary, 1688. "S'abstenir, to abstain, forbear or keep from. S'abstenir du vin & des femmes, to abstain from wine and women. Il ne put s'abstenir de la regarder, he could not forbear looking upon her."

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 past historic and subjunctive imperfect endings do not start with one of these thematic vowels: -a-, -i-, -u-.

Conjugation of abstenir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	abstenir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	abstenant /ap.stə.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		abstenu /ap.stə.ny/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	abstiens /ap.stjɛ̃/	abstiens /ap.stjɛ̃/	abstient /ap.stjɛ̃/	abstenons /ap.stə.nɔ̃/	abstenez /ap.stə.ne/	abstiennent /ap.stjɛn/
	imperfect	abstenais /ap.stə.nɛ/	abstenais /ap.stə.nɛ/	abstenait /ap.stə.nɛ/	abstenions /ap.stə.njɔ̃/	absteniez /ap.stə.nje/	abstenaient /ap.stə.nɛ/
	past historic2	abstins /ap.stɛ̃/	abstins /ap.stɛ̃/	abstint /ap.stɛ̃/	abstînmes /ap.stɛ̃m/	abstîntes /ap.stɛ̃t/	abstinrent /ap.stɛ̃ʁ/
	future	abstiendrai /ap.stjɛ̃.dʁe/	abstiendras /ap.stjɛ̃.dʁa/	abstiendra /ap.stjɛ̃.dʁa/	abstiendrons /ap.stjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/	abstiendrez /ap.stjɛ̃.dʁe/	abstiendront /ap.stjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	abstiendrais /ap.stjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	abstiendrais /ap.stjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	abstiendrait /ap.stjɛ̃.dʁɛ/	abstiendrions /ap.stjɛ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/	abstiendriez /ap.stjɛ̃.dʁi.je/	abstiendraient /ap.stjɛ̃.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	abstienne /ap.stjɛn/	abstiennes /ap.stjɛn/	abstienne /ap.stjɛn/	abstenions /ap.stə.njɔ̃/	absteniez /ap.stə.nje/	abstiennent /ap.stjɛn/
	imperfect2	abstinsse /ap.stɛ̃s/	abstinsses /ap.stɛ̃s/	abstînt /ap.stɛ̃/	abstinssions /ap.stɛ̃.sjɔ̃/	abstinssiez /ap.stɛ̃.sje/	abstinssent /ap.stɛ̃s/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	abstiens /ap.stjɛ̃/	—	abstenons /ap.stə.nɔ̃/	abstenez /ap.stə.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

• abstinent
• abstinence
• abstention

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• braisent

Old French

Alternative forms

• astenir

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin abstineō, abstinēre, with conjugation adapted to tenir.

Verb

abstenir

1. to abstain from; to not participate in

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has a stressed present stem abstien distinct from the unstressed stem absten, 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 abstenir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		abstenir			avoir abstenu
gerund		en abstenant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		abstenant
past participle		abstenu
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	abstieng, abstien	abstiens	abstient	abstenons	abstenez	abstienent
	imperfect	abstenoie, absteneie	abstenoies, absteneies	abstenoit, absteneit	absteniiens, absteniens	absteniiez, absteniez	abstenoient, absteneient
	preterite	abstin	abstenis	abstint	abstenimes	abstenistes	abstindrent, abstinrent
	future	abstendrai	abstendras	abstendra	abstendrons	abstendroiz, abstendreiz, abstendrez	abstendront
	conditional	abstendroie, abstendreie	abstendroies, abstendreies	abstendroit, abstendreit	abstendriiens, abstendriens	abstendriiez, abstendriez	abstendroient, abstendreient
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	abstiegne	abstiegnes	abstiegne	abstiegniens, abstiegnons	abstiegniez	abstiegnent
	imperfect	abstenisse	abstenisses	abstenist	abstenissons, abstenissiens	abstenissoiz, abstenissez, abstenissiez	abstenissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	abstien	—	abstenons	abstenez	—

Related terms

• abstinent
• abstinence

Descendants

• French: abstenir
• → Middle English: absteynen, abstenen, abstinen
  • English: abstain
  • Scots: absteen