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French Conjugation

The Irregular Verb Craindre & Verbs Ending in -AINDRE/-EINDRE

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Conjugating verbs of emotion and production (craindre, atteindre, peindre) that follow the shared irregular pattern of -aindre, -eindre, and -oindre.

Level B1 Category Conjugation

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Lesson Summary

Conjugating verbs of emotion and production (craindre, atteindre, peindre) that follow the shared irregular pattern of -aindre, -eindre, and -oindre.

Conjugation

A Distinct Irregular Group

Verbs whose infinitive ends in -aindre, -eindre, or -oindre share a common conjugation pattern. In the present singular forms the ‹d› of the stem disappears, and in the plural a ‹g› is inserted before the ‹n›. The endings of the present indicative are -s, -s, -t, -ons, -ez, -ent.

Present Tense of Craindre (to fear)

Subject	Form	Pronunciation Note
je / j'	crains	silent -s, nasal 'ain'
tu	crains	same as je
il / elle / on	craint	silent -t, nasal 'ain'
nous	craignons	gn sounds like 'ny' in 'onion'
vous	craignez	gn sound followed by -ez
ils / elles	craignent	nasal ending, silent -ent

Verbs That Follow This Pattern

The same conjugation is used by all verbs of this type. The most frequent include:
- craindre (to fear): je crains, nous craignons; past participle craint
- atteindre (to reach / to affect): j’atteins, nous atteignons; past participle atteint
- peindre (to paint): je peins, nous peignons; past participle peint
- éteindre (to turn off / extinguish): j’éteins, nous éteignons; past participle éteint
- joindre (to join / to reach by phone): je joins, nous joignons; past participle joint
- plaindre (to pity): je plains, nous plaignons; past participle plaint

The reflexive form se plaindre means ‘to complain’.

Other Tenses

All tenses derive from the same stems.
- Futur simple: je craindrai, tu atteindras, il peindra. For the future stem formation, see le futur simple.
- Imparfait: je craignais, nous craignions (stem craign-). For formation, see imparfait stem formations.
- Subjonctif présent: que je craigne, que nous craignions. For the subjunctive paradigm, see subjonctif présent derivation and irregular paradigms.

The past participle of each verb is formed by replacing the stem ending: craint, atteint, peint, éteint, joint, plaint. All are conjugated with avoir in compound tenses.

Examples

Beaucoup de consommateurs se plaignent parce que le produit ne fonctionne pas.
The reflexive verb se plaindre in the present tense: ils se plaignent.
Je crains que le délai de garantie ne soit dépassé.
Craindre que is followed by the subjunctive; the ne here is the expletive negation, a formal written usage.

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The Irregular Verb Craindre & Verbs Ending in -AINDRE/-EINDREConjugating verbs of emotion and production (craindre, atteindre, peindre) that follow the shared irregular pattern of -aindre, -eindre, and -oindre.Apply the correct written stem shifts across tenses for this verb group, which drops the internal ‹d› in the singular and inserts ‹gn› in the plural.ConjugationB1conjugationLearn French ConjugationFrench ConjugationA Distinct Irregular GroupVerbs whose infinitive ends in -aindre, -eindre, or -oindre share a common conjugation pattern. In the present singular forms the ‹d› of the stem disappears, and in the plural a ‹g› is inserted before the ‹n›. The endings of the present indicative are -s, -s, -t, -ons, -ez, -ent.