répéter

See also: repeter and repetér

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French repeter, borrowed from Latin repetere. Cf. also the Old French form repeir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁe.pe.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

répéter

1. to repeat
2. (pronominal) to repeat oneself
3. to rehearse, practice

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 répéter-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written répèter-, 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 répéter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	répéter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	répétant /ʁe.pe.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		répété /ʁe.pe.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	répète /ʁe.pɛt/	répètes /ʁe.pɛt/	répète /ʁe.pɛt/	répétons /ʁe.pe.tɔ̃/	répétez /ʁe.pe.te/	répètent /ʁe.pɛt/
	imperfect	répétais /ʁe.pe.tɛ/	répétais /ʁe.pe.tɛ/	répétait /ʁe.pe.tɛ/	répétions /ʁe.pe.tjɔ̃/	répétiez /ʁe.pe.tje/	répétaient /ʁe.pe.tɛ/
	past historic2	répétai /ʁe.pe.te/	répétas /ʁe.pe.ta/	répéta /ʁe.pe.ta/	répétâmes /ʁe.pe.tam/	répétâtes /ʁe.pe.tat/	répétèrent /ʁe.pe.tɛʁ/
	future	répèterai or répéterai /ʁe.pɛ.tʁe/ or /ʁe.pe.tʁe/	répèteras or répéteras /ʁe.pɛ.tʁa/ or /ʁe.pe.tʁa/	répètera or répétera /ʁe.pɛ.tʁa/ or /ʁe.pe.tʁa/	répèterons or répéterons /ʁe.pɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /ʁe.pe.tʁɔ̃/	répèterez or répéterez /ʁe.pɛ.tʁe/ or /ʁe.pe.tʁe/	répèteront or répéteront /ʁe.pɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /ʁe.pe.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	répèterais or répéterais /ʁe.pɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ʁe.pe.tʁɛ/	répèterais or répéterais /ʁe.pɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ʁe.pe.tʁɛ/	répèterait or répéterait /ʁe.pɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ʁe.pe.tʁɛ/	répèterions or répéterions /ʁe.pɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ʁe.pe.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	répèteriez or répéteriez /ʁe.pɛ.tə.ʁje/ or /ʁe.pe.tə.ʁje/	répèteraient or répéteraient /ʁe.pɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ʁe.pe.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	répète /ʁe.pɛt/	répètes /ʁe.pɛt/	répète /ʁe.pɛt/	répétions /ʁe.pe.tjɔ̃/	répétiez /ʁe.pe.tje/	répètent /ʁe.pɛt/
	imperfect2	répétasse /ʁe.pe.tas/	répétasses /ʁe.pe.tas/	répétât /ʁe.pe.ta/	répétassions /ʁe.pe.ta.sjɔ̃/	répétassiez /ʁe.pe.ta.sje/	répétassent /ʁe.pe.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	répète /ʁe.pɛt/	—	répétons /ʁe.pe.tɔ̃/	répétez /ʁe.pe.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

• répétition

Further reading

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