pécher

See also: pecher and pêcher

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French pecher, from Old French pechier, from Latin peccāre.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /pe.ʃe/
  • Audio (France)(file)
  • Homophones: pêcher, péché

Verb

pécher

  1. to sin

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 pécher-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written pècher-, 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 pécher (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple pécher
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple péchant
/pe.ʃɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle péché
/pe.ʃe/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses)		 present pèche
/pɛʃ/		 pèches
/pɛʃ/		 pèche
/pɛʃ/		 péchons
/pe.ʃɔ̃/		 péchez
/pe.ʃe/		 pèchent
/pɛʃ/
imperfect péchais
/pe.ʃɛ/		 péchais
/pe.ʃɛ/		 péchait
/pe.ʃɛ/		 péchions
/pe.ʃjɔ̃/		 péchiez
/pe.ʃje/		 péchaient
/pe.ʃɛ/
past historic2 péchai
/pe.ʃe/		 péchas
/pe.ʃa/		 pécha
/pe.ʃa/		 péchâmes
/pe.ʃam/		 péchâtes
/pe.ʃat/		 péchèrent
/pe.ʃɛʁ/
future pècherai or pécherai
/pɛʃ.ʁe/		 pècheras or pécheras
/pɛʃ.ʁa/		 pèchera or péchera
/pɛʃ.ʁa/		 pècherons or pécherons
/pɛʃ.ʁɔ̃/		 pècherez or pécherez
/pɛʃ.ʁe/		 pècheront or pécheront
/pɛʃ.ʁɔ̃/
conditional pècherais or pécherais
/pɛʃ.ʁɛ/		 pècherais or pécherais
/pɛʃ.ʁɛ/		 pècherait or pécherait
/pɛʃ.ʁɛ/		 pècherions or pécherions
/pɛ.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /pe.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/		 pècheriez or pécheriez
/pɛ.ʃə.ʁje/ or /pe.ʃə.ʁje/		 pècheraient or pécheraient
/pɛʃ.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 pèche
/pɛʃ/		 pèches
/pɛʃ/		 pèche
/pɛʃ/		 péchions
/pe.ʃjɔ̃/		 péchiez
/pe.ʃje/		 pèchent
/pɛʃ/
imperfect2 péchasse
/pe.ʃas/		 péchasses
/pe.ʃas/		 péchât
/pe.ʃa/		 péchassions
/pe.ʃa.sjɔ̃/		 péchassiez
/pe.ʃa.sje/		 péchassent
/pe.ʃas/
(compound
tenses)		 past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — pèche
/pɛʃ/		 — péchons
/pe.ʃɔ̃/		 péchez
/pe.ʃe/		 —
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:
  • past historic → present perfect
  • past anterior → pluperfect
  • imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive
  • pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive

(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

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