mener
French
Etymology
From Old French mener, from Latin mināre, collateral form of minārī.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mə.ne/
audio (file)
Verb
mener
- (transitive) to lead, to take
- Le bus va nous mener au château.
- The bus will lead us to the castle.
- to lead, to run, to take charge
- Louis va mener ce cours.
- Louis will lead this lesson.
- to lead, to be leading, to be in the lead
- L'équipe bleue mène 2 à 0.
- The blue team is leading 2–0.
Conjugation
This verb is conjugated mostly like the regular -er verbs (parler and chanter and so on), but the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-. For example, in the third-person singular present indicative, we have il mène rather than *il mene. Other verbs conjugated this way include lever and acheter. Related but distinct conjugations include those of appeler and préférer.
Conjugation of mener (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | mener | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | menant /mə.nɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | mené /mə.ne/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | mène /mɛn/ | mènes /mɛn/ | mène /mɛn/ | menons /mə.nɔ̃/ | menez /mə.ne/ | mènent /mɛn/ |
| imperfect | menais /mə.nɛ/ | menais /mə.nɛ/ | menait /mə.nɛ/ | menions /mə.njɔ̃/ | meniez /mə.nje/ | menaient /mə.nɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | menai /mə.ne/ | menas /mə.na/ | mena /mə.na/ | menâmes /mə.nam/ | menâtes /mə.nat/ | menèrent /mə.nɛʁ/ | |
| future | mènerai /mɛn.ʁe/ | mèneras /mɛn.ʁa/ | mènera /mɛn.ʁa/ | mènerons /mɛn.ʁɔ̃/ | mènerez /mɛn.ʁe/ | mèneront /mɛn.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | mènerais /mɛn.ʁɛ/ | mènerais /mɛn.ʁɛ/ | mènerait /mɛn.ʁɛ/ | mènerions /mɛ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /me.nə.ʁjɔ̃/ | mèneriez /mɛ.nə.ʁje/ or /me.nə.ʁje/ | mèneraient /mɛn.ʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | mène /mɛn/ | mènes /mɛn/ | mène /mɛn/ | menions /mə.njɔ̃/ | meniez /mə.nje/ | mènent /mɛn/ |
| imperfect2 | menasse /mə.nas/ | menasses /mə.nas/ | menât /mə.na/ | menassions /mə.na.sjɔ̃/ | menassiez /mə.na.sje/ | menassent /mə.nas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | mène /mɛn/ | — | menons /mə.nɔ̃/ | menez /mə.ne/ | — | |
| 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). | |||||||
Antonyms
- suivre
Derived terms
- mener à bien
- mener à la baguette
- mener de front
- mener en bateau
- mener grand train
- mener la danse
- mener la vie à grandes guides
- mener par le bout du nez
- mener une vie de bâton de chaise
- ne pas en mener large
- tous les chemins mènent à Rome
Related terms
- amener
- emmener
- meneur
Further reading
- “mener”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Ladin
Etymology
From Latin mināre, collateral form of minārī.
Verb
mener
- to take or lead (someone somewhere)
Conjugation
- Ladin conjugation varies from one region to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.
Conjugation of mener (first conjugation, irregular)
| infinitive | mener, mené | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| auxiliary verb | avei | gerund | menan | |||
| past participle | mené | |||||
| person | singular | plural | ||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | |
| indicative | ie | tu | el / ela | nos | vos | ei / eles |
| present | meine, meineie | meines, meineis | meina, meineia, menea | menon | meneis | meina, meineia |
| imperfect | menove | menoves | menova | menovan | menovais | menova |
| future | menaré | menaras | menarà | menaron | menareis | menarà |
| subjunctive | che ie | che tu | che el / ela | che nos | che vos | che ei / eles |
| present | meine, meineie | meines, meineis | meine, meineie | menon | meneis | meine |
| imperfect | menasse | menasses | menassa | menassan | menassais | menassa |
| imperative | – | tu | – | nos | vos | – |
| — | meina, meineia | — | menon | menede | — | |
Norman
Verb
mener
- Alternative form of m'ner
Norwegian Bokmål
Verb
mener
- present tense of mene
Old French
Etymology
From Latin mināre, collateral form of minārī.
Verb
mener
- (transitive) to lead (encourage something or someone to go somewhere)
Conjugation
This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. It has two stems, a unstressed one in -men- that appears in most forms and a stressed one in -mein- (also -main-) that appears in parts of the present indicative, subjunctive and imperative. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.
Conjugation of mener (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | mener | avoir mené | |||||
| gerund | en menant | Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| present participle | menant | ||||||
| past participle | mené | ||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | jo | tu | il | nos | vos | il | |
| simple tenses | present | mein, main | meines, maines | meine, maine | menons | menez | meinent, mainent |
| imperfect | menoie, meneie, menoe, meneve | menoies, meneies, menoes, meneves | menoit, meneit, menot, meneve | meniiens, meniens | meniiez, meniez | menoient, meneient, menoent, menevent | |
| preterite | menai | menas | mena | menames | menastes | menerent | |
| future | menerai | meneras | menera | menerons | meneroiz, menereiz, menerez | meneront | |
| conditional | meneroie, menereie | meneroies, menereies | meneroit, menereit | meneriiens, meneriens | meneriiez, meneriez | meneroient, menereient | |
| compound tenses | present perfect | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior | Use the preterite tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que jo | que tu | qu’il | que nos | que vos | qu’il | |
| simple tenses | present | mein, main | meins, mains | meint, maint | menons | menez | meinent, mainent |
| imperfect | menasse | menasses | menast | menissons, menissiens | menissoiz, menissez, menissiez | menassent | |
| compound tenses | past | Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nos | vos | – | |
| — | meine, maine | — | menons | menez | — | ||
Related terms
- amener
- enmener
Descendants
- French: mener
- Norman: m'ner (Jersey)