détenir
French, verb/det.niʁ/
détenir is a French verb meaning “to detain” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Garder en sa possession”.
What does détenir mean in English?
verb
- 1
to detain
- 2
to possess, to have, to hold
détenir un don, un pouvoir
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Garder en sa possession. 2. Garder quelqu’un ; le retenir en prison.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of détenir
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- détenant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- détenu participle past
- détiens first-person indicative present
- détient indicative present singular
- détenons first-person indicative plural
- détenez indicative plural present
- détiennent indicative plural present
- détenais first-person imperfect indicative
- détenait imperfect indicative singular
- détenions first-person imperfect indicative
- déteniez imperfect indicative plural
- détenaient imperfect indicative plural
- détins first-person historic indicative
- détint historic indicative past
- détînmes first-person historic indicative
- détîntes historic indicative past
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce détenir?
- /det.niʁ/
- /dɛt.niʁ/
- \de.tə.niʁ\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to détenir
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is détenir in French?
détenir appears 3.0 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).