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Definition 2025
craindre
craindre
French
Verb
craindre
- (transitive) to fear
- (intransitive, slang) to suck (to be unwanted or bad)
- J'ai perdu mon portefeuille. - Merde, ça craint.
- I've lost my wallet. - ****, that sucks.
- J'ai perdu mon portefeuille. - Merde, ça craint.
Conjugation
This verb is conjugated like peindre. It uses the same endings as rendre or vendre, but its -nd- becomes -gn- before a vowel, and its past participle ends in ‘t’ instead of a vowel.
Conjugation of craindre (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | craindre | avoir craint | |||||
| gerund | en craignant | en ayant craint | |||||
| present participle | craignant /kʁɛ.ɲɑ̃/ |
||||||
| past participle | craint /kʁɛ̃/ |
||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | crains /kʁɛ̃/ |
crains /kʁɛ̃/ |
craint /kʁɛ̃/ |
craignons /kʁɛ.ɲɔ̃/ |
craignez /kʁɛ.ɲe/ |
craignent /kʁɛɲ/ |
| imperfect | craignais /kʁɛ.ɲɛ/ |
craignais /kʁɛ.ɲɛ/ |
craignait /kʁɛ.ɲɛ/ |
craignions /kʁɛ.ɲjɔ̃/ |
craigniez /kʁɛ.ɲje/ |
craignaient /kʁɛ.ɲɛ/ |
|
| past historic1 | craignis /kʁɛ.ɲi/ |
craignis /kʁɛ.ɲi/ |
craignit /kʁɛ.ɲi/ |
craignîmes /kʁɛ.ɲim/ |
craignîtes /kʁɛ.ɲit/ |
craignirent /kʁɛ.ɲiʁ/ |
|
| future | craindrai /kʁɛ̃.dʁe/ |
craindras /kʁɛ̃.dʁa/ |
craindra /kʁɛ̃.dʁa/ |
craindrons /kʁɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/ |
craindrez /kʁɛ̃.dʁe/ |
craindront /kʁɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/ |
|
| conditional | craindrais /kʁɛ̃.dʁɛ/ |
craindrais /kʁɛ̃.dʁɛ/ |
craindrait /kʁɛ̃.dʁɛ/ |
craindrions /kʁɛ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/ |
craindriez /kʁɛ̃.dʁi.je/ |
craindraient /kʁɛ̃.dʁɛ/ |
|
| compound tenses |
present perfect | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior1 | Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il | que nous | que vous | qu’ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | craigne /kʁɛɲ/ |
craignes /kʁɛɲ/ |
craigne /kʁɛɲ/ |
craignions /kʁɛ.ɲjɔ̃/ |
craigniez /kʁɛ.ɲje/ |
craignent /kʁɛɲ/ |
| imperfect1 |
craignisse /kʁɛ.ɲis/ |
craignisses /kʁɛ.ɲis/ |
craignît /kʁɛ.ɲi/ |
craignissions /kʁɛ.ɲi.sjɔ̃/ |
craignissiez /kʁɛ.ɲi.sje/ |
craignissent /kʁɛ.ɲis/ |
|
| compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect1 | Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nous | vous | – | |
| — | crains /kʁɛ̃/ |
— | craignons /kʁɛ.ɲɔ̃/ |
craignez /kʁɛ.ɲe/ |
— | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||
Synonyms
Related terms
Usage notes
- craindre que is followed by a subjunctive, and in addition takes a ne as a meaningless particle, e.g. in the following sentence:
- Je crains que le lac ne soit froid.
- I fear that the lake is cold.
Derived terms
References
- ↑ “craindre” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).