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ternir: Conjugation

The ternir conjugation tables below show how to form the French verb ternir according to tense and person. To listen to the pronunciation of a given tense of ternir, click on the loudspeaker icon at the bottom of the table. See the notes on the conjugation of ternir at the end of this page.

Present	Perfect
je ternis tu ternis il/elle ternit nous ternissons vous ternissez ils/elles ternissent Pronounce these verb forms	j' ai terni tu as terni il/elle a terni nous avons terni vous avez terni ils/elles ont terni Pronounce these verb forms
Imperfect	Pluperfect
je ternissais tu ternissais il/elle ternissait nous ternissions vous ternissiez ils/elles ternissaient Pronounce these verb forms	j' avais terni tu avais terni il/elle avait terni nous avions terni vous aviez terni ils/elles avaient terni Pronounce these verb forms
Future	Future-perfect
je ternirai tu terniras il/elle ternira nous ternirons vous ternirez ils/elles terniront Pronounce these verb forms	j' aurai terni tu auras terni il/elle aura terni nous aurons terni vous aurez terni ils/elles auront terni Pronounce these verb forms
Conditional	Conditional perfect
je ternirais tu ternirais il/elle ternirait nous ternirions vous terniriez ils/elles terniraient Pronounce these verb forms	j' aurais terni tu aurais terni il/elle aurait terni nous aurions terni vous auriez terni ils/elles auraient terni Pronounce these verb forms
Present subjunctive	Perfect subjunctive
je ternisse tu ternisses il/elle ternisse nous ternissions vous ternissiez ils/elles ternissent Pronounce these verb forms	j' aie terni tu aies terni il/elle ait terni nous ayons terni vous ayez terni ils/elles aient terni Pronounce these verb forms
Past historic	Past anterior
je ternis tu ternis il/elle ternit nous ternîmes vous ternîtes ils/elles ternirent Pronounce these verb forms	j' eus terni tu eus terni il/elle eut terni nous eûmes terni vous eûtes terni ils/elles eurent terni Pronounce these verb forms

This verb falls into the pattern commonly termed regular -ir verb. It is characterised by the consonant -ss- which appears before any ending beginning with a vowel (in the spelling) but not in the infinitive or past participle.

This is the pattern generally followed by verbs based on colours and some other common adjectives (such as (to turn red, blush), jaunir (to turn yellow), grandir (to grow), adoucir (to soften) etc. Many English verbs ending in -ish also have French counterparts ending in -ir and following this pattern (cf finir, polir, vernir (to varnish), abolir, ternir...

Around 300 verbs are reported to follow this pattern (Beescherelle (2006), la conjugaison pour tous). The category is marginally productive:

• On analogy with other verbs of the category, very occasional -ir neologisms are formed (cf amarsir);
• There is a very slight tendancy for irregular -ir verbs to "slip into" the regular -ir pattern. In educated usage, this happens in some senses for saillir and ressortir in some senses, and sometimes for the verb vêtir (Bescherelle, op cit, p. 27). Other non-standard forms occasionally found include vous bouillissez (instead of vous bouillez: see bouillir).