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Definition 2024
téter
téter
French
Verb
téter
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 téter-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written tèter-, 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 téter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | téter | avoir tété | |||||
| gerund | en tétant | en ayant tété | |||||
| present participle | tétant /te.tɑ̃/ |
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| past participle | tété /te.te/ |
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| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | tète /tɛt/ |
tètes /tɛt/ |
tète /tɛt/ |
tétons /te.tɔ̃/ |
tétez /te.te/ |
tètent /tɛt/ |
| imperfect | tétais /te.tɛ/ |
tétais /te.tɛ/ |
tétait /te.tɛ/ |
tétions /te.tjɔ̃/ |
tétiez /te.tje/ |
tétaient /te.tɛ/ |
|
| past historic1 | tétai /te.te/ |
tétas /te.ta/ |
téta /te.ta/ |
tétâmes /te.tam/ |
tétâtes /te.tat/ |
tétèrent /te.tɛʁ/ |
|
| future | tèterai or téterai /tɛ.tʁe/ |
tèteras or téteras /tɛ.tʁa/ |
tètera or tétera /tɛ.tʁa/ |
tèterons or téterons /tɛ.tʁɔ̃/ |
tèterez or téterez /tɛ.tʁe/ |
tèteront or téteront /tɛ.tʁɔ̃/ |
|
| conditional | tèterais or téterais /tɛ.tʁɛ/ |
tèterais or téterais /tɛ.tʁɛ/ |
tèterait or téterait /tɛ.tʁɛ/ |
tèterions or téterions /tɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
tèteriez or téteriez /tɛ.tə.ʁje/ |
tèteraient or téteraient /tɛ.tʁɛ/ |
|
| 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 anterior1 | 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 je (j’) | que tu | qu’il | que nous | que vous | qu’ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | tète /tɛt/ |
tètes /tɛt/ |
tète /tɛt/ |
tétions /te.tjɔ̃/ |
tétiez /te.tje/ |
tètent /tɛt/ |
| imperfect1 |
tétasse /te.tas/ |
tétasses /te.tas/ |
tétât /te.ta/ |
tétassions /te.ta.sjɔ̃/ |
tétassiez /te.ta.sje/ |
tétassent /te.tas/ |
|
| compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect1 | Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nous | vous | – | |
| — | tète /tɛt/ |
— | tétons /te.tɔ̃/ |
tétez /te.te/ |
— | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||
Derived terms
- (brownnose): (Quebec, informal) téteux