produire

Produire is a French verb meaning to cause to exist, to generate, to manufacture, or to yield something. It is used across contexts such as industry and agriculture (produire des biens, produire des récoltes), science and medicine (produire un effet, produire un médicament), and the arts and media (produire un film, produire un spectacle). The sense can center on creation, result, or consequence, and it is typically transitive with a direct object. The pronominal form se produire means to occur, as in les événements se produisent régulièrement.

Etymology and related forms: the verb comes from the Latin producere, formed from pro- “forward” and ducere “to lead.” It shares cognates with other Romance languages, such as Spanish producir and English produce.

Conjugation and usage: produire is a third-group verb of the -uire family. The present indicative forms are je produis, tu produis, il produit, nous produisons, vous produisez, ils produisent. The past participle is produit, and the infinitive is produire with the gerund produced by produisant. The verb takes être in the passé composé when used reflexively in some senses, but most commonly uses avoir: j’ai produit. Other tenses follow standard patterns for French -uire verbs, including je produisais (imperfect), je produirai (future), and que je produise (present subjunctive). The imperative forms are produis, produisons, produisez.

Notes: produire forms the basis for related nouns such as production and productivity in discourse. In everyday French, the verb covers manufacturing, generating results, and making or presenting something, as opposed to se produire, which denotes events or occurrences.

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