interpréter

See also: interpreter

French

Etymology

From Latin interpretārī, present active infinitive of interpretor.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.te/
  • Audio(file)

Verb

interpréter

  1. (transitive) to translate
  2. (transitive) to interpret
  3. (transitive) to construe

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.

Conjugation of interpréter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
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 – tu – nous vous –
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).

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