The verbs VENIR and TENIR are irregular in the Subjonctif Présent:
| que je vienne / tienne | that I come / hold |
| que tu viennes / tiennes | that you come / hold |
| qu'il/elle/on vienne / tienne | that he/she/we comes / holds |
| que nous venions / tenions | that we come / hold |
| que vous veniez / teniez | that you come / hold |
| qu'ils/elles viennent / tiennent | that they come / hold |
Note that the nous and vous forms are the same as in L'Imparfait. (See Conjugate regular verbs in L'Imparfait (imperfect tense))
As for the other forms, the irregular roots vienn- for VENIR / tienn- for TENIR are followed by the regular endings of Le Subjonctif Présent:
-e, -es, -e, [-], [-], -ent
Il faut que je retienne ma respiration sous l'eau.
I have to hold my breath under water.
Elle ne s'attendait pas à ce que tu reviennes.
She didn't expect you to come back.
Tu n'es pas sûre qu'il se souvienne de toi.
You're not sure he remembers you.
Nos parents voulaient que nous devenions avocats.
Our parents wanted us to become lawyers.
Il est important que vous les préveniez immédiatement !
It is important that you warn them immediately!
J'ai peur qu'ils ne retiennent jamais la leçon.
I'm afraid they'll never learn their lesson.
Venir and Tenir derivatives include:
devenir - to become
revenir - to come back
intervenir - to intervene
prévenir - to warn
se souvenir - to remember
retenir - to retain, to hold back
détenir - to detain
obtenir - to get, to obtain
appartenir - to belong
contenir - to contain
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Il faut que je retienne ma respiration sous l'eau.
I have to hold my breath under water.
Il est important que vous les préveniez immédiatement !
It is important that you warn them immediately!
Nos parents voulaient que nous devenions avocats.
Our parents wanted us to become lawyers.
Elle ne s'attendait pas à ce que tu reviennes.
She didn't expect you to come back.
Tu n'es pas sûre qu'il se souvienne de toi.
You're not sure he remembers you.
J'ai peur qu'ils ne retiennent jamais la leçon.
I'm afraid they'll never learn their lesson.
Q&A
Daniel
Kwiziq community member
6/09/18
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
16/01/17
Erin
Kwiziq community member
16/01/17
Scott
Kwiziq community member
30 October 2018
0 replies
valoir & falloir irregular in the subjonctif?
Hi, I don't believe you have conjugation lessons for the verbs valoir and falloir, which are irregular in the subjonctif. Have I missed them, or would it be possible for you to add them? How many other verbs are irregular in the subjonctif?
thanks, Scott