"Tien" means "yours" and "bon" means "good".So how does "Tiens bon" mean "Hold on"?
I am new French learner. I got to know about it from Google Translate.
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2Please don't rely on google translate, especially for everyday speech. It's ok sometimes for technical manuals. – Lambie Oct 11 at 14:49
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1tenir bon, an idiom means: to hold on, to stay the course, to hang in there, to not give up. – Lambie Oct 11 at 17:57
You misread the expression. The first word is not tien (your) but tiens, imperative form of the verb tenir (to hold).
- tiens (2nd person singulal)
- tenons (1st person plural)
- tenez (2nd person plural)
The latter gave the English "Tennis".
So
Tiens bon !
is more like (literally):
Hold "well" or Hold "good"!
Instead of Google translate, I'd recommend DeepL which translates Tiens bon ! to :
