Level A2/B2 (Upper beginner, lower intermediate)
The French word of the day is joindre (A2/B1), meaning ‘to join’. This verb can cause a lot of confusion as joindre means ‘to join together’ or ‘to reach’ while the reflexive form se joindre à means to join a person or group of people. We’ll also cover se rejoindre (to meet up).
joindre – IPA pronunciation /ʒwɛ̃.dʀ/
Joindre: Meaning & Usage In French
Word origin
The Modern French verb joindre comes from jungere in Latin, meaning to join, bring together and to connect
Joindre example sentences
In our first example sentence, joindre means to connect, join or link.
Une route joint les deux côtés de la vallée.
A road joins both sides of the valley.
In this example, joindre means ‘combine’ in the context of combining efforts. Dû is the past participle of devoir (must, have to).
Nous avons dû joindre nos efforts pour trouver plus de clients.
We combined our efforts to find more clients.
Joindre can also mean to reach, contact or ‘get hold of’. In this example, the expression avoir du mal à means ‘to have a hard time doing something’.
J’ai du mal à vous joindre. Où êtes-vous ?
I’m having a hard time getting hold of you. Where are you?
Se joindre à = to join a person or group
In the reflexive form, se joindre à means ‘to join’ in the context of joining an individual, group of people or a club. For example, “Puis-je me joindre à vous?” (May I join you?)
Je vais me joindre à un club de ski cet hiver.
I’m going to join a ski club this winter.
Rejoindre = to meet with
In the reflexive from, se rejoindre means ‘to meet up’ and is synonymous with se retrouver.
On se rejoint au café à 17h00, d’accord ?
Let’s meet at the café at 5pm, okay?
Ci-joint = attached
Finally, ci-joint is used to mean ‘attached’ in the context of writing letters. Veuillez is the imperative form of vouloir (to want) and is formal way of saying please.
Veuillez voir le document ci-joint.
Please see the document attached.
Conjugation
Joindre is an irregular RE verb. This means that when conjugated in the present tense, its ending are different to other regular RE verbs.
Je joins I join
Tu joins You join (singular, informal)
Il, elle joint He she joins
Nous joignons We join
Vous joignez You join (plural, formal)
Ils, elles joignent They join
Continue learning French!
Now that you’ve mastered joindre, check our our lesson explaining another confusing verb s’en aller (to go, to be off).
References
