participer

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French participer, borrowed from Latin participāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /paʁ.ti.si.pe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

participer (intransitive)

1. to participate [+ à (object) = in]

   Il participe à la cérémonie.

   He is participating in the ceremony.

2. to donate [+ à (object) = to]

   Merci de participer aux frais d’entretien des sanitaires

   Thank you for donating to the maintenance of this sanitary facility.

3. to share (emotions) [+ à (object)]

   Elle a dit qu’elle particpait à ma douleur.

   She said she shared my pain.

4. (dated) to have some of the characteristics of; to partake of [+ de (object)]

Conjugation

Conjugation of participer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	participer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	participant /paʁ.ti.si.pɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		participé /paʁ.ti.si.pe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	participe /paʁ.ti.sip/	participes /paʁ.ti.sip/	participe /paʁ.ti.sip/	participons /paʁ.ti.si.pɔ̃/	participez /paʁ.ti.si.pe/	participent /paʁ.ti.sip/
	imperfect	participais /paʁ.ti.si.pɛ/	participais /paʁ.ti.si.pɛ/	participait /paʁ.ti.si.pɛ/	participions /paʁ.ti.si.pjɔ̃/	participiez /paʁ.ti.si.pje/	participaient /paʁ.ti.si.pɛ/
	past historic2	participai /paʁ.ti.si.pe/	participas /paʁ.ti.si.pa/	participa /paʁ.ti.si.pa/	participâmes /paʁ.ti.si.pam/	participâtes /paʁ.ti.si.pat/	participèrent /paʁ.ti.si.pɛʁ/
	future	participerai /paʁ.ti.si.pʁe/	participeras /paʁ.ti.si.pʁa/	participera /paʁ.ti.si.pʁa/	participerons /paʁ.ti.si.pʁɔ̃/	participerez /paʁ.ti.si.pʁe/	participeront /paʁ.ti.si.pʁɔ̃/
	conditional	participerais /paʁ.ti.si.pʁɛ/	participerais /paʁ.ti.si.pʁɛ/	participerait /paʁ.ti.si.pʁɛ/	participerions /paʁ.ti.si.pə.ʁjɔ̃/	participeriez /paʁ.ti.si.pə.ʁje/	participeraient /paʁ.ti.si.pʁɛ/
(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	participe /paʁ.ti.sip/	participes /paʁ.ti.sip/	participe /paʁ.ti.sip/	participions /paʁ.ti.si.pjɔ̃/	participiez /paʁ.ti.si.pje/	participent /paʁ.ti.sip/
	imperfect2	participasse /paʁ.ti.si.pas/	participasses /paʁ.ti.si.pas/	participât /paʁ.ti.si.pa/	participassions /paʁ.ti.si.pa.sjɔ̃/	participassiez /paʁ.ti.si.pa.sje/	participassent /paʁ.ti.si.pas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	participe /paʁ.ti.sip/	—	participons /paʁ.ti.si.pɔ̃/	participez /paʁ.ti.si.pe/	—
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).

Further reading

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

Latin

Verb

participer

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of participō

Middle French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin participāre, present active infinitive of participō.

Verb

participer

1. (with à) to participate

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of participer

infinitive	simple	participer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	participant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		participé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	participe	participes	participe	participons	participez	participent
	imperfect	participois, participoys	participois, participoys	participoit, participoyt	participions, participyons	participiez, participyez	participoient, participoyent
	past historic	participa	participas	participa	participasmes	participastes	participerent
	future	participerai, participeray	participeras	participera	participerons	participerez	participeront
	conditional	participerois, participeroys	participerois, participeroys	participeroit, participeroyt	participerions, participeryons	participeriez, participeryez	participeroient, participeroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	participe	participes	participe	participons	participez	participent
	imperfect	participasse	participasses	participast	participassions	participassiez	participassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	participe	—	participons	participez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Descendants

• French: participer