convaincre

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French [Term?], borrowed from Latin convincere, and adapted to the form of vaincre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.vɛ̃kʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

convaincre

1. 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		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
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: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (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.