prononcer

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin prōnūntiāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

prononcer

1. to pronounce
2. to say, mention
3. to give, deliver (a speech)

Conjugation

This verb is part of a group of -er verbs for which 'c' is softened to a 'ç' before the vowels 'a' and 'o'.

Conjugation of prononcer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	prononcer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	prononçant /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		prononcé /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	prononce /pʁɔ.nɔ̃s/	prononces /pʁɔ.nɔ̃s/	prononce /pʁɔ.nɔ̃s/	prononçons /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sɔ̃/	prononcez /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.se/	prononcent /pʁɔ.nɔ̃s/
	imperfect	prononçais /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sɛ/	prononçais /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sɛ/	prononçait /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sɛ/	prononcions /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sjɔ̃/	prononciez /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sje/	prononçaient /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sɛ/
	past historic2	prononçai /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.se/	prononças /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sa/	prononça /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sa/	prononçâmes /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sam/	prononçâtes /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sat/	prononcèrent /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sɛʁ/
	future	prononcerai /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sʁe/	prononceras /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sʁa/	prononcera /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sʁa/	prononcerons /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sʁɔ̃/	prononcerez /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sʁe/	prononceront /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	prononcerais /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sʁɛ/	prononcerais /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sʁɛ/	prononcerait /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sʁɛ/	prononcerions /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	prononceriez /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sə.ʁje/	prononceraient /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sʁɛ/
(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	prononce /pʁɔ.nɔ̃s/	prononces /pʁɔ.nɔ̃s/	prononce /pʁɔ.nɔ̃s/	prononcions /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sjɔ̃/	prononciez /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sje/	prononcent /pʁɔ.nɔ̃s/
	imperfect2	prononçasse /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sas/	prononçasses /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sas/	prononçât /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sa/	prononçassions /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sa.sjɔ̃/	prononçassiez /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sa.sje/	prononçassent /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	prononce /pʁɔ.nɔ̃s/	—	prononçons /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.sɔ̃/	prononcez /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.se/	—
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).

Synonyms

• articuler
• dire

Related terms

• prononçable
• prononcé
• prononciation

Further reading

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