guetter

French

Etymology

From Old French gaitier, guaitier, from Old Frankish *wahtōn, *wahtjan (“to watch, guard”), derivative of *wahta (“guard, watch”), from Proto-Germanic *wahtwō (“guard, watch”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- (“to be fresh, cheerful, awake”). Compare English wait, ultimately from the same origin through an Anglo-Norman/Old Northern French variant.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ɡɛ.te/, /ɡe.te/
  • audio(file)

Verb

guetter

  1. (transitive) to watch (intently), to watch for, to lie in wait
    Le chat guette la souris. ― The cat lies in wait for the mouse.
    Des gendarmes le guettent. ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
  2. (figuratively) to seize (to await and take advantage of)
    Synonym: saisir
    guetter le moment. ― Seize the moment.
    guetter une occassion ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
  3. (figuratively) to menace, to loom (to appear in a threatening form)
    La mort le guette. ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
    • 1997, Bernard Fauconnier, chapter 3, in Kaïros, Grasset:
      J’avais acheté une vieille 4L dont les cardans exténués rendaient d’inquiétants sons de castagnettes et je roulais des journées entières sur des routes où la mort guettait à chaque virage.
      (please add an English translation of this quote)

Conjugation
Conjugation of guetter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
present participle guettant
/ɡɛ.tɑ̃/
past participle guetté
/ɡɛ.te/
infinitive
simple guetter
compound avoir + past participle
gerund1
simple guettant
/ɡɛ.tɑ̃/
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 guette
/ɡɛt/		 guettes
/ɡɛt/		 guette
/ɡɛt/		 guettons
/ɡɛ.tɔ̃/		 guettez
/ɡɛ.te/		 guettent
/ɡɛt/
imperfect guettais
/ɡɛ.tɛ/		 guettais
/ɡɛ.tɛ/		 guettait
/ɡɛ.tɛ/		 guettions
/ɡɛ.tjɔ̃/		 guettiez
/ɡɛ.tje/		 guettaient
/ɡɛ.tɛ/
past historic2 guettai
/ɡɛ.te/		 guettas
/ɡɛ.ta/		 guetta
/ɡɛ.ta/		 guettâmes
/ɡɛ.tam/		 guettâtes
/ɡɛ.tat/		 guettèrent
/ɡɛ.tɛʁ/
future guetterai
/ɡɛ.tʁe/		 guetteras
/ɡɛ.tʁa/		 guettera
/ɡɛ.tʁa/		 guetterons
/ɡɛ.tʁɔ̃/		 guetterez
/ɡɛ.tʁe/		 guetteront
/ɡɛ.tʁɔ̃/
conditional guetterais
/ɡɛ.tʁɛ/		 guetterais
/ɡɛ.tʁɛ/		 guetterait
/ɡɛ.tʁɛ/		 guetterions
/ɡɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/		 guetteriez
/ɡɛ.tə.ʁje/		 guetteraient
/ɡɛ.tʁɛ/
(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 guette
/ɡɛt/		 guettes
/ɡɛt/		 guette
/ɡɛt/		 guettions
/ɡɛ.tjɔ̃/		 guettiez
/ɡɛ.tje/		 guettent
/ɡɛt/
imperfect2 guettasse
/ɡɛ.tas/		 guettasses
/ɡɛ.tas/		 guettât
/ɡɛ.ta/		 guettassions
/ɡɛ.ta.sjɔ̃/		 guettassiez
/ɡɛ.ta.sje/		 guettassent
/ɡɛ.tas/
(compound
tenses)		 past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — guette
/ɡɛt/		 — guettons
/ɡɛ.tɔ̃/		 guettez
/ɡɛ.te/		 —
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).

Derived terms

Further reading
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