interpréter
French
Etymology
From Latin interpretārī, present active infinitive of interpretor.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.te/
Audio (file)
Conjugation
This verb is conjugated like céder. 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 written interpréter-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written interprèter-, reflecting the now common pronunciation /ɛ/, thereby making this distinction consistent throughout the conjugation (and also matching in this regard the conjugations of verbs like lever and jeter). Both spellings are in use today, and both are therefore given here.
present participle | interprétant /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɑ̃/ | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
past participle | interprété /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.te/ | ||||||
infinitive | |||||||
simple | interpréter | ||||||
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
gerund1 | |||||||
simple | interprétant /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.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 | 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 or interpréterai /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁe/ |
interprèteras or interpréteras /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁa/ |
interprètera or interprétera /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁa/ |
interprèterons or interpréterons /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɔ̃/ |
interprèterez or interpréterez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁe/ |
interprèteront or interpréteront /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | interprèterais or interpréterais /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɛ/ |
interprèterais or interpréterais /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɛ/ |
interprèterait or interpréterait /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɛ/ |
interprèterions or interpréterions /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
interprèteriez or interpréteriez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tə.ʁje/ |
interprèteraient or interpréteraient /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.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 | 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 of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | interprète /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/ |
— | interprétons /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɔ̃/ |
interprétez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.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). |
Related terms
Descendants
- → Dutch: interpreteren
- → German: interpretieren
Further reading
- “interpréter” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).