douter
English
Noun
douter (plural douters)
- (obsolete) An extinguisher for candles.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “douter”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)
French
Alternative forms
- doubter (obsolete)
- doûter (obsolete)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /du.te/
audio (file)
Verb
douter
- (followed by the preposition de) to doubt
- Il ne faut pas douter de la bonne foi de son interlocuteur.
- One must not doubt the intention of one's interlocutor.
- Je doute qu’il y parvienne.
- I doubt that he will manage.
- J’en doute.
- I doubt that.
- (reflexive) to suspect, to have an inkling
- Je me doutais qu’il n’allait pas bien, mais je ne savais pas que c’était à ce point-là.
- I suspected that he was not doing well, but I did not know that it was to that degree.
- Il s’en doute bien.
- He is well aware.
Usage notes
Douter subordinates a subjunctive content clause when used affirmatively, but subordinates the indicative when used non-affirmatively.
Conjugation
infinitive | simple | douter | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
present participle or gerund1 | simple | doutant /du.tɑ̃/ | |||||
compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
past participle | douté /du.te/ | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | doute /dut/ |
doutes /dut/ |
doute /dut/ |
doutons /du.tɔ̃/ |
doutez /du.te/ |
doutent /dut/ |
imperfect | doutais /du.tɛ/ |
doutais /du.tɛ/ |
doutait /du.tɛ/ |
doutions /du.tjɔ̃/ |
doutiez /du.tje/ |
doutaient /du.tɛ/ | |
past historic2 | doutai /du.te/ |
doutas /du.ta/ |
douta /du.ta/ |
doutâmes /du.tam/ |
doutâtes /du.tat/ |
doutèrent /du.tɛʁ/ | |
future | douterai /du.tʁe/ |
douteras /du.tʁa/ |
doutera /du.tʁa/ |
douterons /du.tʁɔ̃/ |
douterez /du.tʁe/ |
douteront /du.tʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | douterais /du.tʁɛ/ |
douterais /du.tʁɛ/ |
douterait /du.tʁɛ/ |
douterions /du.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
douteriez /du.tə.ʁje/ |
douteraient /du.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 | doute /dut/ |
doutes /dut/ |
doute /dut/ |
doutions /du.tjɔ̃/ |
doutiez /du.tje/ |
doutent /dut/ |
imperfect2 | doutasse /du.tas/ |
doutasses /du.tas/ |
doutât /du.ta/ |
doutassions /du.ta.sjɔ̃/ |
doutassiez /du.ta.sje/ |
doutassent /du.tas/ | |
(compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | doute /dut/ |
— | doutons /du.tɔ̃/ |
doutez /du.te/ |
— | |
compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). |
Derived terms
Further reading
- “douter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle French
Old French
Conjugation
This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-ts, *-tt are modified to z, t. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.
simple | compound | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
infinitive | douter | avoir douté | |||||
gerund | en doutant | gerund of avoir + past participle | |||||
present participle | doutant | ||||||
past participle | douté | ||||||
person | singular | plural | |||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | jo | tu | il | nos | vos | il | |
simple tenses |
present | dout | doutes | doute | doutons | doutez | doutent |
imperfect | doutoie, douteie, doutoe, douteve | doutoies, douteies, doutoes, douteves | doutoit, douteit, doutot, douteve | doutiiens, doutiens | doutiiez, doutiez | doutoient, douteient, doutoent, doutevent | |
preterite | doutai | doutas | douta | doutames | doutastes | douterent | |
future | douterai | douteras | doutera | douterons | douteroiz, doutereiz, douterez | douteront | |
conditional | douteroie, doutereie | douteroies, doutereies | douteroit, doutereit | douteriiens, douteriens | douteriiez, douteriez | douteroient, doutereient | |
compound tenses |
present perfect | present tense of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect | imperfect tense of avoir + past participle | ||||||
past anterior | preterite tense of avoir + past participle | ||||||
future perfect | future tense of avoir + past participle | ||||||
conditional perfect | conditional tense of avoir + past participle | ||||||
subjunctive | que jo | que tu | qu’il | que nos | que vos | qu’il | |
simple tenses |
present | dout | douz | dout | doutons | doutez | doutent |
imperfect | doutasse | doutasses | doutast | doutissons, doutissiens | doutissoiz, doutissez, doutissiez | doutassent | |
compound tenses |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | tu | – | nos | vos | – | |
— | doute | — | doutons | doutez | — |