Tiens What Does This French Expression Mean

Tiens, pronounced tyeh(n),  is a classic informal expression that does a lot of jobs in the French lexicon, from the polite command  Here, take this to the interjections Hey, Listen, Look and more. Literally, it means Hold, but its usage goes far beyond that. As a Polite Command The expression tiens may be short, but its long on meaning and extremely common in spoken French.  Tiens is the imperative form of the verb tenir, which means to hold. The literal meaning of tiens,  and its vous form  tenez,  is simply the  command  Hold, as when you hand something to another person and ask that person to hold it for you. For example: Tiens,  jai besoin des deux mains pour conduire.   Here [take this], I need both hands to drive. You can also use the imperative tiens  when giving someone a gift or responding to a request:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Tiens, je tai achetà © des fleurs.   Here, I bought you some flowers.  Ã‚  Tu me prà ªtes ton appareil photo? Alors, tiens.   Can I borrow your camera? Here you go. As an Interjection or Filler (More Common) But tiens and tenez are even more commonly used as interjections or fillers, with essentially three different meanings:1. When you spot someone, you say  tiens or  tenez. This is equivalent to saying something along the lines of, There you are or There he is.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Tiens, Marie !   Marie, there you are!  Ã‚  Tiens, voilà   Pierre.   Look, theres Pierre. 2. It also functions as a  filler to draw attention to what youre about to say, roughly equivalent to saying in English, Look, See or You know.   Ã‚  Tiens, il faut que tu saches quelque chose...   Look, theres something you need to know...  Tenez, ce nest pas une bonne idà ©e.   You know, thats not a good idea. 3. It delivers a note of surprise as well, like Hey! or How about that:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Tiens, je viens de trouver 10 euros !   Hey, I just found 10 euros!     Aujourdhui, jai fait aucune faute. Tiens? Today, I made not one mistake. Really? Tiens, tiens Two tiens said in quick succession is an expression that suggests surprise or something unexpected.  Tiens, tiens means well, well, oh, my, how about that or tsk, tsk.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tiens, tiens, tu es enfin arrivà ©.   Well, well, youre finally here. Homographs Homographs are two or more words that have identical spellings but different meanings, derivations or pronunciations. Such false matches can cause confusion, so beware of these. In the case of tiens,  there are two other words with the identical spelling of our expression that mean  completely different things. The expression tiens is the second person singular imperative, but another  tiens is the conjugated form of the verb tenir: the first and second person singular of the present tense (je tiens, tu tiens).  Another tiens—le tiens—is the second person singular possessive pronoun, as in:  Jai trouvà © mon livre, mais oà ¹ est le tiens  ? (I found my book, but where is yours?)