Verb drill
Vint, tint, devint: practise the venir and tenir past family
Recognise venir and tenir in the passé simple, then practise fourteen forms with prefixes, clear subjects and accent checks for vînmes and tîntes.
- B2
- 14 answers
- Checked all at once
- Accents count
- Learn this in the B2 notebook →
In short
Venir and tenir share an -in- passé simple pattern: il vint, ils vinrent; il tint, ils tinrent. Related verbs keep it: elle devint, ils revinrent, elle obtint. Keep the prefix when you recover the meaning.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
| Subject | venir | tenir |
|---|---|---|
| je | vins | tins |
| tu | vins | tins |
| il / elle / on | vint | tint |
| nous | vînmes | tînmes |
| vous | vîntes | tîntes |
| ils / elles | vinrent | tinrent |
The singular endings are -s, -s, -t on the vin- or tin- stem. The third-person plural ends in -rent: vinrent, tinrent. The first- and second-person plurals take circumflexes: vînmes, vîntes, tînmes, tîntes.
What are the passé simple forms of venir and tenir?
| Infinitive | Singular | Plural | Meaning here |
|---|---|---|---|
| devenir | elle devint | elles devinrent | became |
| revenir | il revint | ils revinrent | came back |
| retenir | elle retint | elles retinrent | held back / remembered |
| obtenir | il obtint | ils obtinrent | obtained / got |
Il retint son souffle.
He held his breath.
A familiar expression with retenir.
Elle retint son nom.
She remembered his name.
The same verb takes a different meaning with this object.
Après plusieurs demandes, il obtint une réponse.
After several requests, he got a reply.
Obtenir means getting something here, rather than holding it.
Vint, vit or vînt?
| Example | Verb and form |
|---|---|
| Elle vint nous aider. | venir · passé simple |
| Elle vit son frère. | voir · passé simple |
| Il souhaitait qu’elle vînt. | venir · imperfect subjunctive |
The n separates vint (“came”) from vit (“saw”) in a past narrative. The third-person circumflex separates indicative vint from literary subjunctive vînt. A circumflex in nous vînmes still belongs to the passé simple. Check the person as well as the accent.
For the first part, write only the form beside each infinitive and subject. For the sentences, keep the prefix and choose the ending from the subject. Every gap asks for the passé simple.
Elle est venue nous aider. Il a tenu sa promesse.
She came to help us. He kept his promise.
In an everyday retelling, these passé composé forms can replace elle vint and il tint. Venir takes être, while tenir takes avoir.
1 · Write the form for the named subject
- venir · je
- tenir · tu
- venir · elle
- tenir · nous
- venir · vous
- tenir · elles
2 · Keep the whole verb, including its prefix
- Elle nous aider. (venir)
- Il sa promesse. (tenir)
- La salle silencieuse. (devenir)
- Les visiteurs le lendemain. (revenir)
- Elle son souffle. (retenir)
- Ils une réponse. (obtenir)
- Nous deux jours plus tard. (revenir)
- Vous son nom. (retenir)