Paul tient le clou pendant que Marie cherche un autre outil.

Paul

Breakdown of Paul tient le clou pendant que Marie cherche un autre outil.

• Marie: Marie
• autre: other
• pendant que: while

Questions & Answers about Paul tient le clou pendant que Marie cherche un autre outil.

Why is it tient and not tiens in Paul tient le clou?

Because tient is the il/elle/on form of the verb tenir in the present tense.

Present tense of tenir:

• je tiens
• tu tiens
• il/elle/on tient
• nous tenons
• vous tenez
• ils/elles tiennent

Since Paul is third-person singular, French uses tient.

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What does tenir mean here?

Here, tenir means to hold.

So Paul tient le clou means Paul is holding the nail.

But tenir is a very common verb with several meanings depending on context, such as:

• to hold
• to keep
• to support
• to maintain
• sometimes even to fit or to last, depending on the expression

In this sentence, the physical meaning to hold is the natural one.

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Why does French use the simple present here? Shouldn’t it be something like is holding and is looking for?