convaincre
French
Etymology
From Old French [Term?], borrowed from Latin convincere, present active infinitive of convincō, and adapted to the form of vaincre.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kɔ̃.vɛ̃kʁ/
audio (file)
Verb
convaincre
- to convince
- Est-ce que vous êtes convaincu qu'il nous a dit que la vérité ?
- Are you convinced that he told us but truth?
- Il pourrait pas convaincre un enfant que le soleil se lève à l'est.
- He couldn't convince a child that the sun rises in the east.
Conjugation
This verb is conjugated like vaincre. That means it is conjugated like vendre, except that its usual stem convainqu- becomes convainc- when either there is no ending, or the ending starts with -u- or a written consonant. Additionally, when inverted the third person singular in the present adds the infix -t-: convainc-t-il? These are strictly spelling changes; pronunciation-wise, the verb is conjugated exactly like vendre.
Conjugation of convaincre (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | convaincre | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | convainquant /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | convaincu /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.ky/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | convaincs /kɔ̃.vɛ̃/ | convaincs /kɔ̃.vɛ̃/ | convainc /kɔ̃.vɛ̃/ | convainquons /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kɔ̃/ | convainquez /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.ke/ | convainquent /kɔ̃.vɛ̃k/ |
| imperfect | convainquais /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kɛ/ | convainquais /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kɛ/ | convainquait /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kɛ/ | convainquions /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kjɔ̃/ | convainquiez /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kje/ | convainquaient /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | convainquis /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.ki/ | convainquis /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.ki/ | convainquit /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.ki/ | convainquîmes /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kim/ | convainquîtes /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kit/ | convainquirent /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kiʁ/ | |
| future | convaincrai /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kʁe/ | convaincras /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kʁa/ | convaincra /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kʁa/ | convaincrons /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kʁɔ̃/ | convaincrez /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kʁe/ | convaincront /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | convaincrais /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kʁɛ/ | convaincrais /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kʁɛ/ | convaincrait /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kʁɛ/ | convaincrions /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kʁi.jɔ̃/ | convaincriez /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kʁi.je/ | convaincraient /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) | present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | convainque /kɔ̃.vɛ̃k/ | convainques /kɔ̃.vɛ̃k/ | convainque /kɔ̃.vɛ̃k/ | convainquions /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kjɔ̃/ | convainquiez /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kje/ | convainquent /kɔ̃.vɛ̃k/ |
| imperfect2 | convainquisse /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kis/ | convainquisses /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kis/ | convainquît /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.ki/ | convainquissions /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.ki.sjɔ̃/ | convainquissiez /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.ki.sje/ | convainquissent /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kis/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | convaincs /kɔ̃.vɛ̃/ | — | convainquons /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.kɔ̃/ | convainquez /kɔ̃.vɛ̃.ke/ | — | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms
- prêcher un convaincu
Related terms
- vaincre
Further reading
- “convaincre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.