Peindre

Peindre is a French verb meaning to apply paint to a surface or to create a painted image. It covers both practical painting, such as painting walls or objects (peindre un mur, peindre une porte), and the artistic act of making pictures on canvas or paper (peindre un tableau, peindre un paysage). The sense may be extended figuratively to describe vivid depiction in writing or speech.

Conjugation and forms: Peindre is irregular. In the present tense: je peins, tu peins, il/elle peint, nous peignons, vous peignez, ils/elles peignent. The past participle is peint, used with the auxiliary avoir to form the passé composé: j'ai peint. Other tenses include imperfect: je peignais; future: je peindrai; conditional: je peindrais. The present participle is peignant.

Etymology and related terms: The verb derives from Old French peindre, from Latin pingere, meaning to paint or depict. Related nouns include la peinture (painting), un peintre (a painter), and tools such as un pinceau (brush) and une palette.

Usage notes: Phrases distinguish media by preposition, as in peindre à l'huile (oil painting), à l'aquarelle (watercolor), ou en fresco. The expression en plein air refers to painting outdoors.

In summary, peindre is a core French verb for both practical and artistic painting, with a distinctive irregular conjugation and a family of related terms that anchor the vocabulary of painting and depiction.