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Learn French Conjugation: The Irregular Verb Craindre and Verbs Ending in -aindre and -eindre | FrenchGeni

Conjugation

The Irregular Verb Craindre and Verbs Ending in -aindre and -eindre (Le verbe craindre et les verbes en -aindre et -eindre)

Level B1

Objective: Conjugate craindre, plaindre, peindre, éteindre, and atteindre across all six persons, and apply the stem shift pattern consistently.

What you’ll learn

Conjugate craindre across all six persons in the present tense.
Apply the stem shift from n to gn in the plural forms.
Recognise the pattern across the whole -aindre and -eindre family.
Apply the past participle craint in the passé composé.

Conjugation

The craindre family

Craindre means to fear, and it serves as the model for the family of -indre verbs, which includes the -aindre, -eindre, and -oindre groups. All of them share the same conjugation pattern.

craindre — to fear
plaindre — to pity
peindre — to paint
éteindre — to turn off
atteindre — to reach
joindre — to join, to reach

Each verb in the family shifts its stem between the singular and the plural, and the shift is entirely regular within the group. Once craindre is secure, every other verb of the family becomes predictable.

Craindre and peindre in the present tense

Pronoun	craindre	peindre	atteindre
je	crains	peins	atteins
tu	crains	peins	atteins
il / elle / on	craint	peint	atteint
nous	craignons	peignons	atteignons
vous	craignez	peignez	atteignez
ils / elles	craignent	peignent	atteignent

Common mistakes

Watch out for these

Nous craindons les araignées.
Nous craignons les araignées.
The plural stem of craindre inserts a g before the n, producing craign-. The infinitive spelling does not appear in the plural forms.
Je crain la réponse.
Je crains la réponse.
The first-person singular ends in -s, producing crains. Dropping the -s leaves crain, a form that appears in no person of the paradigm.
J'ai craindé la réaction.

Examples

Je crains de ne pas arriver à temps.
Craindre takes the preposition de before an infinitive. The first-person singular ends in -s, producing crains.
Nous craignons les conséquences.
The plural stem inserts a g before the n, producing craignons. The verb takes a direct object.
Il peint un tableau depuis ce matin.
Peindre follows the same pattern. The third-person singular is peint, with the silent final -t.
Nous éteignons toutes les lumières avant de sortir.
Éteindre uses the plural stem éteign- for the first-person plural.
Ils ont atteint leur objectif en trois mois.
The past participle of atteindre is atteint, and the auxiliary avoir precedes it.