acquitter

English

Etymology

From acquit +‎ -er.

Noun

acquitter (plural acquitters)

1. One who acquits or releases.

References

• “acquitter”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French acquiter, from Medieval Latin acquitāre, adquietāre (“to pay a debt”), from ad- + quitare (“to set free”), from Late Latin quietāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ki.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

acquitter

1. to pay
2. to acknowledge (a signal), to notify the receipt of
3. (law) to clear, to acquit
4. (reflexive, s'acquitter) to pay
5. (reflexive, s'acquitter, ~ de) to discharge, to complete (one's duty)

   La jeune femme fit de réels efforts pour s’acquitter sérieusement de la corvée.

   The young woman made real serious efforts to finish her chores.

Conjugation

Conjugation of acquitter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	acquitter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	acquittant /a.ki.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		acquitté /a.ki.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	acquitte /a.kit/	acquittes /a.kit/	acquitte /a.kit/	acquittons /a.ki.tɔ̃/	acquittez /a.ki.te/	acquittent /a.kit/
	imperfect	acquittais /a.ki.tɛ/	acquittais /a.ki.tɛ/	acquittait /a.ki.tɛ/	acquittions /a.ki.tjɔ̃/	acquittiez /a.ki.tje/	acquittaient /a.ki.tɛ/
	past historic2	acquittai /a.ki.te/	acquittas /a.ki.ta/	acquitta /a.ki.ta/	acquittâmes /a.ki.tam/	acquittâtes /a.ki.tat/	acquittèrent /a.ki.tɛʁ/
	future	acquitterai /a.ki.tʁe/	acquitteras /a.ki.tʁa/	acquittera /a.ki.tʁa/	acquitterons /a.ki.tʁɔ̃/	acquitterez /a.ki.tʁe/	acquitteront /a.ki.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	acquitterais /a.ki.tʁɛ/	acquitterais /a.ki.tʁɛ/	acquitterait /a.ki.tʁɛ/	acquitterions /a.ki.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	acquitteriez /a.ki.tə.ʁje/	acquitteraient /a.ki.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	acquitte /a.kit/	acquittes /a.kit/	acquitte /a.kit/	acquittions /a.ki.tjɔ̃/	acquittiez /a.ki.tje/	acquittent /a.kit/
	imperfect2	acquittasse /a.ki.tas/	acquittasses /a.ki.tas/	acquittât /a.ki.ta/	acquittassions /a.ki.ta.sjɔ̃/	acquittassiez /a.ki.ta.sje/	acquittassent /a.ki.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	acquitte /a.kit/	—	acquittons /a.ki.tɔ̃/	acquittez /a.ki.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: 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).

Derived terms

• acquittement

Further reading

• “acquitter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.