incarcérer
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin incarcerāre, incarcerō.
Pronunciation
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 incarcérer-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written incarcèrer-, 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.
infinitive | simple | incarcérer | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
present participle or gerund1 | simple | incarcérant /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁɑ̃/ | |||||
compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
past participle | incarcéré /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁe/ | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | incarcère /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛʁ/ |
incarcères /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛʁ/ |
incarcère /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛʁ/ |
incarcérons /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁɔ̃/ |
incarcérez /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁe/ |
incarcèrent /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛʁ/ |
imperfect | incarcérais /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁɛ/ |
incarcérais /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁɛ/ |
incarcérait /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁɛ/ |
incarcérions /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁjɔ̃/ |
incarcériez /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁje/ |
incarcéraient /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁɛ/ | |
past historic2 | incarcérai /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁe/ |
incarcéras /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁa/ |
incarcéra /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁa/ |
incarcérâmes /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁam/ |
incarcérâtes /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁat/ |
incarcérèrent /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁɛʁ/ | |
future | incarcèrerai or incarcérerai /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛ.ʁə.ʁe/ or /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁə.ʁe/ |
incarcèreras or incarcéreras /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛ.ʁə.ʁa/ or /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁə.ʁa/ |
incarcèrera or incarcérera /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛ.ʁə.ʁa/ or /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁə.ʁa/ |
incarcèrerons or incarcérerons /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ |
incarcèrerez or incarcérerez /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛ.ʁə.ʁe/ or /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁə.ʁe/ |
incarcèreront or incarcéreront /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | incarcèrerais or incarcérerais /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁə.ʁɛ/ |
incarcèrerais or incarcérerais /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁə.ʁɛ/ |
incarcèrerait or incarcérerait /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁə.ʁɛ/ |
incarcèrerions or incarcérerions /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛ.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
incarcèreriez or incarcéreriez /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛ.ʁə.ʁje/ or /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁə.ʁje/ |
incarcèreraient or incarcéreraient /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁə.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 | incarcère /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛʁ/ |
incarcères /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛʁ/ |
incarcère /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛʁ/ |
incarcérions /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁjɔ̃/ |
incarcériez /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁje/ |
incarcèrent /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛʁ/ |
imperfect2 | incarcérasse /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁas/ |
incarcérasses /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁas/ |
incarcérât /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁa/ |
incarcérassions /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁa.sjɔ̃/ |
incarcérassiez /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁa.sje/ |
incarcérassent /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁas/ | |
(compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | incarcère /ɛ̃.kaʁ.sɛʁ/ |
— | incarcérons /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁɔ̃/ |
incarcérez /ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁe/ |
— | |
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
- “incarcérer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.