affûter

See also: affuter

French

Alternative forms

• affuter (post-1990 spelling)

Etymology

Inherited from Old French afuster. Equivalent to a- +‎ fût +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.fy.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

affûter

1. (transitive) to sharpen; to whet (e.g. a tool)
2. (transitive) to hone (a skill)
3. (slang, rare, transitive) to eat
4. (slang, rare, transitive) to dance
5. (archaic, transitive, of a cannon) to mount on a gun carriage

Conjugation

Conjugation of affûter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	affûter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	affûtant /a.fy.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		affûté /a.fy.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	affûte /a.fyt/	affûtes /a.fyt/	affûte /a.fyt/	affûtons /a.fy.tɔ̃/	affûtez /a.fy.te/	affûtent /a.fyt/
	imperfect	affûtais /a.fy.tɛ/	affûtais /a.fy.tɛ/	affûtait /a.fy.tɛ/	affûtions /a.fy.tjɔ̃/	affûtiez /a.fy.tje/	affûtaient /a.fy.tɛ/
	past historic2	affûtai /a.fy.te/	affûtas /a.fy.ta/	affûta /a.fy.ta/	affûtâmes /a.fy.tam/	affûtâtes /a.fy.tat/	affûtèrent /a.fy.tɛʁ/
	future	affûterai /a.fy.tʁe/	affûteras /a.fy.tʁa/	affûtera /a.fy.tʁa/	affûterons /a.fy.tʁɔ̃/	affûterez /a.fy.tʁe/	affûteront /a.fy.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	affûterais /a.fy.tʁɛ/	affûterais /a.fy.tʁɛ/	affûterait /a.fy.tʁɛ/	affûterions /a.fy.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	affûteriez /a.fy.tə.ʁje/	affûteraient /a.fy.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	affûte /a.fyt/	affûtes /a.fyt/	affûte /a.fyt/	affûtions /a.fy.tjɔ̃/	affûtiez /a.fy.tje/	affûtent /a.fyt/
	imperfect2	affûtasse /a.fy.tas/	affûtasses /a.fy.tas/	affûtât /a.fy.ta/	affûtassions /a.fy.ta.sjɔ̃/	affûtassiez /a.fy.ta.sje/	affûtassent /a.fy.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	affûte /a.fyt/	—	affûtons /a.fy.tɔ̃/	affûtez /a.fy.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

• affûtage
• affûteur

Related terms

• fût
• affûtiau

Further reading

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