FromLatininterpretārī.
interpréter
This verb is conjugated likecéder. It is a regular-er verb, except that its last stem vowel alternates between/e/ (written 'é') and/ɛ/ (written 'è'), with the latter being used before mute 'e'.One special case is the future stem, used in the future and the conditional. Before 1990, the future stem of such verbs was writteninterpréter-, reflecting the historic pronunciation/e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be writteninterprèter-, reflecting the now common pronunciation/ɛ/, thereby making this distinction consistent throughout the conjugation (and also matching in this regard the conjugations of verbs likelever andjeter). Both spellings are in use today, and both are therefore given here.
| infinitive | simple | interpréter | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle orgerund1 | simple | interprétant /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | interprété /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.te/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | interprète /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/ | interprètes /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/ | interprète /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/ | interprétons /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɔ̃/ | interprétez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.te/ | interprètent /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/ |
| imperfect | interprétais /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɛ/ | interprétais /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɛ/ | interprétait /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɛ/ | interprétions /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tjɔ̃/ | interprétiez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tje/ | interprétaient /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | interprétai /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.te/ | interprétas /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.ta/ | interpréta /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.ta/ | interprétâmes /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tam/ | interprétâtes /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tat/ | interprétèrent /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɛʁ/ | |
| future | interprèterai orinterpréterai /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁe/ or/ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁe/ | interprèteras orinterpréteras /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁa/ or/ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁa/ | interprètera orinterprétera /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁa/ or/ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁa/ | interprèterons orinterpréterons /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or/ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁɔ̃/ | interprèterez orinterpréterez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁe/ or/ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁe/ | interprèteront orinterpréteront /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or/ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | interprèterais orinterpréterais /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɛ/ or/ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁɛ/ | interprèterais orinterpréterais /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɛ/ or/ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁɛ/ | interprèterait orinterpréterait /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɛ/ or/ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁɛ/ | interprèterions orinterpréterions /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ or/ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ | interprèteriez orinterpréteriez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tə.ʁje/ or/ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tə.ʁje/ | interprèteraient orinterpréteraient /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɛ/ or/ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) | present perfect | present indicative ofavoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative ofavoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic ofavoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future ofavoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional ofavoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | interprète /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/ | interprètes /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/ | interprète /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/ | interprétions /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tjɔ̃/ | interprétiez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tje/ | interprètent /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/ |
| imperfect2 | interprétasse /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tas/ | interprétasses /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tas/ | interprétât /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.ta/ | interprétassions /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.ta.sjɔ̃/ | interprétassiez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.ta.sje/ | interprétassent /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive ofavoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive ofavoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | interprète /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/ | — | interprétons /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɔ̃/ | interprétez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.te/ | — | |
| compound | — | simple imperative ofavoir + past participle | — | simple imperative ofavoir + past participle | simple imperative ofavoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 The French gerund is usable only with the prepositionen. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995],Master the Basics: French, pp.77,78,79,81). | |||||||