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📚 This is the overview. « craindre » is taught level by level — pick your CEFR level below for a full lesson (explanation, pronunciation, exercises & games).
Five phrases with « craindre » — guess before the reveal. Practise with the free games → Open this short as a page — transcript included →
Craindre — to fear — heads the -indre clan, whose signature move is trading the nasal -ind for a -gn- stem in the plural: je crains, tu crains, il craint, then nous craignons, vous craignez, ils craignent. The gn (the sound of oignon) carries the imparfait (je craignais) and subjonctif (que je craigne); futur je craindrai keeps the infinitive; participle craint. Learn the machine once and the family follows exactly: peindre (paint — nous peignons), éteindre (switch off), rejoindre (join/meet — je te rejoins !), atteindre (reach), plaindre and its useful reflexive se plaindre (complain — il se plaint tout le temps), joindre. Seven verbs, one gn.
Craindre itself runs a register above avoir peur: « je crains que… » (+ subjunctive, and formally a decorative ne: « je crains qu’il ne soit tard ») is the elegant fear of emails and forecasts — « je crains le pire » (I fear the worst) its dramatic cousin. Everyday French prefers the family’s other members: tu me rejoins ? (meeting up), j’éteins la lumière (lights off — full chart on this site), elle peint (art), il se plaint (the national pastime, per the national joke). Slang footnote: « ça craint » — it sucks — puts this literary verb in every teenager’s mouth, register whiplash included. Drill the gn aloud — craignons, peignons, rejoignons — the sound IS the conjugation.
The -indre family: peindre, éteindre, atteindre, rejoindre, plaindre/se plaindre, joindre — nasal singular (je crains), gn plural (nous craignons), -int participles.
Slang for “that sucks / sketchy”: « ce quartier craint la nuit ». The formal fear verb moonlighting as teenage disapproval.
Yes — je crains qu’il (ne) pleuve. The ne is optional, formal and meaningless (not a negation) — the famous ne explétif.
plural / imperfect stem adds gn: nous ___ (cra+gn)
craignons
to switch off (same family) = ___ (-eindre)
éteindre
participle of craindre = ___ (-nt)
craint
je ___ (Craindre — present)
crains
tu ___ (Craindre — passé composé)
as craint
il ___ (Craindre — imperfect)
craignait
nous ___ (Craindre — future)
craindrons
vous ___ (Craindre — conditional)
craindriez
Go further: The past tenses — passé composé & imparfait explained.
je crains, tu crains, il / elle craint, nous craignons, vous craignez, ils / elles craignent. Full charts for every tense are above, each form with audio.
craint — the passé composé is « j’ai craint ». Craindre uses avoir as its auxiliary verb.
« je craindrai » — the future stem never changes across persons, only the endings do.
to fear. It is one of the essential French verbs — drill the present first, then the passé composé; those two tenses carry most conversations.
Games built from this exact page — turn what you just read into play:
« craindre » at every CEFR level — the tense, its forms and the mechanic that makes it stick. Practise it with the free games →