retiens

Retiens is a conjugated form of the French verb retenir, most often encountered as the second-person singular present indicative form (tu retiens) and as the imperative form (retiens). Retenir itself means to retain, to keep back, to detain, or to remember and keep in memory. It covers a range of senses from physical withholding (to restrain or detain someone) to cognitive retention (to remember or retain information).

Etymology and grammar: retenir derives from Latin retinere, formed from re- plus tenere, meaning to hold back or keep. In modern French, retaining is used in contexts such as withholding a person or item, keeping something back for oneself, or remembering information. The form retiens is thus a standard present-tense second-person singular, while the imperative is also expressed as retiens, used to urge someone to hold back or to remember, depending on the context. The verb has related forms across tenses and voices, such as il retient, nous retenons, vous retenez, and ils retiennent.

Usage and nuance: The word appears in everyday speech and writing in both concrete and figurative senses. Examples include retaining information from a lesson, keeping a piece of data for later use, or detaining someone in a lawful or administrative sense. The imperative retiens is less common on its own in casual speech but can appear in commands or literary contexts, often with reflexive forms such as retiens-toi to mean “hold yourself back.”

See also: retenir, rétention, retenue, retenir (related forms and senses of the verb).