Appartenir

Appartenir is a French verb meaning “to belong” or “to pertain.” It denotes that a thing is the property of someone or is part of a larger whole. It is commonly used with the preposition à to indicate possession or membership, as in Cette voiture appartient à mon frère or Cette montre m’appartient.

Etymology: The verb derives from Old French apartenir, from Latin ad + pertinere “to pertain.” The sense of belonging or being appropriate to a person or thing is preserved in modern usage.

Conjugation and forms: Appartenir is irregular in the present tense. The present indicative is j’appartiens, tu appartiens, il appartiennent? No, il appartient, nous appartenons, vous appartenez, ils appartiennent. The past participle is appartenu, and the present participle is appartenant. For compound tenses, the auxiliary verb is avoir: ce livre a appartenu à Pierre. The verb’s inflected forms follow typical -ir verb patterns but with the irregular stem in the present tense.

Usage notes: Appartenir governs the preposition à to express ownership, affiliation, or membership. It is not used with a direct object; instead, the thing that belongs is the subject of the sentence, and the owner is marked by à (or used with a clitic pronoun in the object position). It can describe material possessions, organizational belonging, or membership in groups: Cette pièce appartient à l’artiste; Elle appartient à une famille de musiciens.

Examples: Cette voiture appartient à mon père. Cette œuvre appartient à la collection nationale. Cette pièce appartient à une équipe; il lui appartient désormais.