lécher
French
Etymology
From Frankish *lekkon, from Proto-Germanic *likkōną, whence Old English liccian (Modern English lick). Compare also Italian leccare, from the same Germanic source. A less likely etymology derives both the French and Italian from a Vulgar Latin root *ligicare, from lingo, lingere.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /le.ʃe/
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 lécher-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written lècher-, 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 | léchant /le.ʃɑ̃/ | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
past participle | léché /le.ʃe/ | ||||||
infinitive | |||||||
simple | lécher | ||||||
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
gerund1 | |||||||
simple | léchant /le.ʃɑ̃/ | ||||||
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 | lèche /lɛʃ/ |
lèches /lɛʃ/ |
lèche /lɛʃ/ |
léchons /le.ʃɔ̃/ |
léchez /le.ʃe/ |
lèchent /lɛʃ/ |
imperfect | léchais /le.ʃɛ/ |
léchais /le.ʃɛ/ |
léchait /le.ʃɛ/ |
léchions /le.ʃjɔ̃/ |
léchiez /le.ʃje/ |
léchaient /le.ʃɛ/ | |
past historic2 | léchai /le.ʃe/ |
léchas /le.ʃa/ |
lécha /le.ʃa/ |
léchâmes /le.ʃam/ |
léchâtes /le.ʃat/ |
léchèrent /le.ʃɛʁ/ | |
future | lècherai or lécherai /lɛʃ.ʁe/ |
lècheras or lécheras /lɛʃ.ʁa/ |
lèchera or léchera /lɛʃ.ʁa/ |
lècherons or lécherons /lɛʃ.ʁɔ̃/ |
lècherez or lécherez /lɛʃ.ʁe/ |
lècheront or lécheront /lɛʃ.ʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | lècherais or lécherais /lɛʃ.ʁɛ/ |
lècherais or lécherais /lɛʃ.ʁɛ/ |
lècherait or lécherait /lɛʃ.ʁɛ/ |
lècherions or lécherions /lɛ.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
lècheriez or lécheriez /lɛ.ʃə.ʁje/ |
lècheraient or lécheraient /lɛʃ.ʁɛ/ | |
(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 | lèche /lɛʃ/ |
lèches /lɛʃ/ |
lèche /lɛʃ/ |
léchions /le.ʃjɔ̃/ |
léchiez /le.ʃje/ |
lèchent /lɛʃ/ |
imperfect2 | léchasse /le.ʃas/ |
léchasses /le.ʃas/ |
léchât /le.ʃa/ |
léchassions /le.ʃa.sjɔ̃/ |
léchassiez /le.ʃa.sje/ |
léchassent /le.ʃas/ | |
(compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | lèche /lɛʃ/ |
— | léchons /le.ʃɔ̃/ |
léchez /le.ʃe/ |
— | |
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
- “lécher” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).