achever
French
Etymology
From Middle French achever, from Old French achever, from Vulgar Latin *accapāre, from Latin ad + caput (“head”) + -āre. Compare Catalan, Occitan, Portuguese and Spanish acabar.
Pronunciation
Verb
achever
- (transitive) to finish, to complete
- 1837, Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manchefr.Wikisource, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Chapter II:
- Ayant donc achevé ses préparatifs, il ne voulut pas attendre davantage pour mettre à exécution son projet.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- Having thus completed his preparations, he did not want to wait any longer to put his project into execution.
-
- (transitive) to finish off (someone who is already incapacitated)
- (reflexive, s'achever) to finish
Conjugation
This verb is conjugated mostly like the regular -er verbs (parler and chanter and so on), but the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-. For example, in the third-person singular present indicative, we have il achève rather than *il acheve. Other verbs conjugated this way include lever and mener. Related but distinct conjugations include those of appeler and préférer.
Conjugation of achever (see also Appendix:French verbs)
present participle | achevant /aʃ.vɑ̃/ | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
past participle | achevé /aʃ.ve/ | ||||||
infinitive | |||||||
simple | achever | ||||||
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
gerund1 | |||||||
simple | achevant /aʃ.vɑ̃/ | ||||||
compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | achève /a.ʃɛv/ |
achèves /a.ʃɛv/ |
achève /a.ʃɛv/ |
achevons /aʃ.vɔ̃/ |
achevez /aʃ.ve/ |
achèvent /a.ʃɛv/ |
imperfect | achevais /aʃ.vɛ/ |
achevais /aʃ.vɛ/ |
achevait /aʃ.vɛ/ |
achevions /a.ʃə.vjɔ̃/ |
acheviez /a.ʃə.vje/ |
achevaient /aʃ.vɛ/ | |
past historic2 | achevai /aʃ.ve/ |
achevas /aʃ.va/ |
acheva /aʃ.va/ |
achevâmes /aʃ.vam/ |
achevâtes /aʃ.vat/ |
achevèrent /aʃ.vɛʁ/ | |
future | achèverai /a.ʃɛ.vʁe/ |
achèveras /a.ʃɛ.vʁa/ |
achèvera /a.ʃɛ.vʁa/ |
achèverons /a.ʃɛ.vʁɔ̃/ |
achèverez /a.ʃɛ.vʁe/ |
achèveront /a.ʃɛ.vʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | achèverais /a.ʃɛ.vʁɛ/ |
achèverais /a.ʃɛ.vʁɛ/ |
achèverait /a.ʃɛ.vʁɛ/ |
achèverions /a.ʃɛ.və.ʁjɔ̃/ |
achèveriez /a.ʃɛ.və.ʁje/ |
achèveraient /a.ʃɛ.vʁɛ/ | |
(compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | achève /a.ʃɛv/ |
achèves /a.ʃɛv/ |
achève /a.ʃɛv/ |
achevions /a.ʃə.vjɔ̃/ |
acheviez /a.ʃə.vje/ |
achèvent /a.ʃɛv/ |
imperfect2 | achevasse /aʃ.vas/ |
achevasses /aʃ.vas/ |
achevât /aʃ.va/ |
achevassions /aʃ.va.sjɔ̃/ |
achevassiez /aʃ.va.sje/ |
achevassent /aʃ.vas/ | |
(compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | achève /a.ʃɛv/ |
— | achevons /aʃ.vɔ̃/ |
achevez /aʃ.ve/ |
— | |
compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
1 Only usable with preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). |
Further reading
- “achever” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Middle French
Etymology
From Old French à, from Latin ad; + chief, from caput (“head”). Also possibly from a Vulgar Latin root *accapāre.
Conjugation
- Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.
Conjugation of achever
simple | compound | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
infinitive | achever | avoir achevé | |||||
gerund | en achevant | Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
present participle | achevant | ||||||
past participle | achevé | ||||||
person | singular | plural | |||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | ie (may be i' before a vowel) | tu | il | nous | vous | ilz, elles | |
simple tenses |
present | acheve | acheves | acheve | achevons | achevez | achevent |
imperfect | achevois, achevoys | achevois, achevoys | achevoit, achevoyt | achevions, achevyons | acheviez, achevyez | achevoient, achevoyent | |
past historic | acheva | achevas | acheva | achevasmes | achevastes | acheverent | |
future | acheverai, acheveray | acheveras | achevera | acheverons | acheverez | acheveront | |
conditional | acheverois, acheveroys | acheverois, acheveroys | acheveroit, acheveroyt | acheverions, acheveryons | acheveriez, acheveryez | acheveroient, acheveroyent | |
compound tenses |
present perfect | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
past anterior | Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
subjunctive | que ie | que tu | qu'il | que nous | que vous | qu'ilz, qu'elles | |
simple tenses |
present | acheve | acheves | acheve | achevons | achevez | achevent |
imperfect | achevasse | achevasses | achevast | achevassions | achevassiez | achevassent | |
compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
pluperfect | Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | tu | – | nous | vous | – | |
— | acheve | — | achevons | achevez | — |
Synonyms
Descendants
- French: achever
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