Conjugating the French Verb Soutenir (to Support)

Soutenir  (to support, to give support to, to defend, to maintain) is a  common French verb that belongs to one of the groups within  irregular  -ir  verbs  that display some conjugation patterns: a first group  of verbs that are conjugated like partir; a second group conjugated like verbs ending in  -llir,  -frir,   or -vrir;  almost all of which are conjugated like regular -er verbs; and a third group ending in -enir, such as  tenir (to hold)  and venir  (to come), which follow a shared conjugation pattern in the present tense. The verb soutenir belongs to the third group of irregular -ir verbs ending in -enir that are conjugated like tenir and venir.  Note that the conjugations in the table at the bottom of the page are only those for simple tenses; compound conjugations of soutenir, which include a form of the auxiliary verb  avoir  and the past participle  soutenu, are not included. Theres one major difference in the compound tenses of tenir, venir, and their derivatives: Tenir and its derivatives use avoir as their auxiliary verb, while venir and most of its derivatives use  Ãƒ ªtre. There are many verbs conjugated like these two major French verbs. Other FRENCH VERBS ENDING IN -TENIR Verbs that end in  -tenir  are all conjugated the same way.  They all  take  avoir  as their auxiliary verb. sabstenir  Ã‚  to refrain, abstain fromappartenir  Ã‚  to belong tocontenir  Ã‚  to containdà ©tenir  Ã‚  to detainentretenir  Ã‚  to look after, support, foster, keep alivemaintenir  Ã‚  to maintainobtenir   to obtainretenir  Ã‚  to retaintenir  Ã‚  to hold, keep FRENCH VERBS ENDING IN -VENIR Most verbs that end in  -venir  use  Ãƒ ªtre  as their auxiliary verb. A few, such as  circonvenir, prà ©venir, and  se souvenir  (see  below) use  avoir. advenir  Ã‚  to happencirconvenir  Ã‚  to circumvent, get aroundcontrevenir  Ã‚  to contraveneconvenir  Ã‚  to suit, be suitabledevenir  Ã‚  to becomeintervenir  Ã‚  to interveneparvenir  Ã‚  to reach, achieveprà ©venir  Ã‚  to warnprovenir  Ã‚  to come from, be due torevenir  Ã‚  to come backse souvenir de  Ã‚  to remembersubvenir  Ã‚  to provide forsurvenir  Ã‚  to occur, take placevenir to come Expressions and Examples With Soutenir Sa prà ©sence ma beaucoup soutenue dans cette à ©preuve. His presence was a great comfort to me in this ordealTu  soutiens toujours ta fille contre moi  !   You always side with your daughter against me !soutenir une à ©quipe   to be a fan of  / to support a sports teamJe pense que nous sommes libres mais elle soutient le contraire.  Ã‚  I think that were free but she claims (that) the opposite is true.Il soutient que tu mens.   He keeps saying that youre a liar.soutenir la comparaison avec  Ã‚  to stand  / to bear comparison withsoutenir un sià ¨ge  militaire   to withstand a siegesoutenir sa thà ¨se  Ã‚  to defend ones thesisse soutenir (reciprocal pronominal)   to stand by each other,  to stick togetherse soutenir (intransitive pronominal) to hold oneself up,  to support oneselfLe vieillard narrivait plus à   se soutenir sur ses jambes. The old mans legs could no longer support  /  carry him.Elle se soutenait avec peine.   She could har dly stay upright. HOW TO MEMORIZE FRENCH VERB CONJUGATIONS Tip:  Concentrate on the most useful tenses (prà ©sent, imparfait, passà © composà ©) and get used to  using them in context. Once youve mastered them, move on to the rest. Training with an audio source may also be helpful. There are many liaisons, elisions, and modern glidings used with French verbs, and the written form may mislead you such that you end up using the wrong pronunciation. Simple Conjugations of the Irregular French -ir Verb Soutenir Present Future Imperfect Present participle je soutiens soutiendrai soutenais soutenant tu soutiens soutiendras soutenais il soutient soutiendra soutenait nous soutenons soutiendrons soutenions vous soutenez soutiendrez souteniez ils soutiennent soutiendront soutenaient Pass compos Auxiliary verb avoir Past participle soutenu Subjunctive Conditional Pass simple Imperfect subjunctive je soutienne soutiendrais soutins soutinsse tu soutiennes soutiendrais soutins soutinsses il soutienne soutiendrait soutint soutnt nous soutenions soutiendrions soutnmes soutinssions vous souteniez soutiendriez soutntes soutinssiez ils soutiennent soutiendraient soutinrent soutinssent Imperative tu soutiens nous soutenons vous soutenez