manténs

Manténs is a Catalan verb form, the second-person singular present indicative of the verb mantenir, meaning to maintain, keep, or preserve. In standard Catalan orthography the unaccented form mantens is common, while manténs is used in contexts where the verb is accompanied by a following clitic pronoun, for example manténs-ho or manténs-la, to indicate emphasis or stress before the pronoun.

Usage and examples:

Mantens la casa en ordre. (You keep the house in order.)

Manténs-la en ordre. (Keep it in order.)

Mantens la promesa que vas fer. (You keep the promise you made.)

Etymology and relatives:

Mantenir belongs to the family of Romance verbs meaning to keep or preserve, with cognates such as Spanish mantener, French maintenir, Italian mantenere, and Portuguese manter. The Catalan form derives from Latin roots associated with sustaining or holding, shared across the Romance languages.

Notes:

The accent in manténs is generally encountered in writing when a direct or indirect object pronoun follows the verb, to mark the correct stress before the clitic. Without a following pronoun, the spelling commonly appears as mantens. This form is part of everyday Catalan and appears in formal and informal discourse alike.

See also:

Mantenir (the infinitive), Catalan conjugation, and related Romance verbs such as mantener, maintenir, mantenere, manter.