alimenter

French

Etymology

From aliment +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.li.mɑ̃.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

alimenter

1. to feed, to give food to

   Synonyms: nourrir, repaître, donner à manger, sustenter

   Antonym: affamer

   • 1933, Joseph Malègue, Augustin ou le maître est là, page 384:

     Alimentez-le, Madame, ce malade-là (...) De braves petits plats, œufs frais, bonne viande. Il aime les nouilles ? Oui ? Donnez-lui en.

     Madam, feed that patient (...) Nice little meals, fresh eggs, some nice meat. He likes noodles? He does? Give him some.

2. to supply, to fund

   Synonym: approvisionner

   • 1962, Bertrand Goldschmidt, L'Aventure atomique, page 92:

     Ces nouvelles ressources en uranium vont servir à alimenter trois usines, les plus coûteuses du monde, qui vont être construites à partir de 1951, par l’industrie privée.

     Those new sources of uranium will be used to supply three factories, the costliest in the world, which will be built from 1951 onward by the private industry.

3. (figurative) to fuel, feed (e.g. an argument)

   Synonym: nourrir

   • 1922, Marcel Proust, À la recherche du temps perdu, page 635:

     M. de Norpois rompit enfin le silence pour prononcer ces mots qui devaient pendant vingt ans alimenter la conversation des chancelleries ...

     Mr de Norpois finally broke the silence to utter those words that will feed the conversations of chancelleries for twenty years...

4. (reflexive) to eat, to feed
   • 1928, Roger Martin du Gard, Les Thibault, page 1196:

     M. Thibault qui ne s’alimentait plus, était très faible, et ne cessait pas de souffrir.

     Mr Thibault – who had stopped eating by now – was very weak and couldn't stop suffering.

Conjugation

Conjugation of alimenter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	alimenter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	alimentant /a.li.mɑ̃.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		alimenté /a.li.mɑ̃.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	alimente /a.li.mɑ̃t/	alimentes /a.li.mɑ̃t/	alimente /a.li.mɑ̃t/	alimentons /a.li.mɑ̃.tɔ̃/	alimentez /a.li.mɑ̃.te/	alimentent /a.li.mɑ̃t/
	imperfect	alimentais /a.li.mɑ̃.tɛ/	alimentais /a.li.mɑ̃.tɛ/	alimentait /a.li.mɑ̃.tɛ/	alimentions /a.li.mɑ̃.tjɔ̃/	alimentiez /a.li.mɑ̃.tje/	alimentaient /a.li.mɑ̃.tɛ/
	past historic2	alimentai /a.li.mɑ̃.te/	alimentas /a.li.mɑ̃.ta/	alimenta /a.li.mɑ̃.ta/	alimentâmes /a.li.mɑ̃.tam/	alimentâtes /a.li.mɑ̃.tat/	alimentèrent /a.li.mɑ̃.tɛʁ/
	future	alimenterai /a.li.mɑ̃.tʁe/	alimenteras /a.li.mɑ̃.tʁa/	alimentera /a.li.mɑ̃.tʁa/	alimenterons /a.li.mɑ̃.tʁɔ̃/	alimenterez /a.li.mɑ̃.tʁe/	alimenteront /a.li.mɑ̃.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	alimenterais /a.li.mɑ̃.tʁɛ/	alimenterais /a.li.mɑ̃.tʁɛ/	alimenterait /a.li.mɑ̃.tʁɛ/	alimenterions /a.li.mɑ̃.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	alimenteriez /a.li.mɑ̃.tə.ʁje/	alimenteraient /a.li.mɑ̃.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	alimente /a.li.mɑ̃t/	alimentes /a.li.mɑ̃t/	alimente /a.li.mɑ̃t/	alimentions /a.li.mɑ̃.tjɔ̃/	alimentiez /a.li.mɑ̃.tje/	alimentent /a.li.mɑ̃t/
	imperfect2	alimentasse /a.li.mɑ̃.tas/	alimentasses /a.li.mɑ̃.tas/	alimentât /a.li.mɑ̃.ta/	alimentassions /a.li.mɑ̃.ta.sjɔ̃/	alimentassiez /a.li.mɑ̃.ta.sje/	alimentassent /a.li.mɑ̃.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	alimente /a.li.mɑ̃t/	—	alimentons /a.li.mɑ̃.tɔ̃/	alimentez /a.li.mɑ̃.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).

Conjugation of s'alimenter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	s'alimenter
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	s’alimentant /sa.li.mɑ̃.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		alimenté /a.li.mɑ̃.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	m’alimente /ma.li.mɑ̃t/	t’alimentes /ta.li.mɑ̃t/	s’alimente /sa.li.mɑ̃t/	nous alimentons /nu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tɔ̃/	vous alimentez /vu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.te/	s’alimentent /sa.li.mɑ̃t/
	imperfect	m’alimentais /ma.li.mɑ̃.tɛ/	t’alimentais /ta.li.mɑ̃.tɛ/	s’alimentait /sa.li.mɑ̃.tɛ/	nous alimentions /nu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tjɔ̃/	vous alimentiez /vu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tje/	s’alimentaient /sa.li.mɑ̃.tɛ/
	past historic2	m’alimentai /ma.li.mɑ̃.te/	t’alimentas /ta.li.mɑ̃.ta/	s’alimenta /sa.li.mɑ̃.ta/	nous alimentâmes /nu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tam/	vous alimentâtes /vu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tat/	s’alimentèrent /sa.li.mɑ̃.tɛʁ/
	future	m’alimenterai /ma.li.mɑ̃.tʁe/	t’alimenteras /ta.li.mɑ̃.tʁa/	s’alimentera /sa.li.mɑ̃.tʁa/	nous alimenterons /nu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tʁɔ̃/	vous alimenterez /vu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tʁe/	s’alimenteront /sa.li.mɑ̃.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	m’alimenterais /ma.li.mɑ̃.tʁɛ/	t’alimenterais /ta.li.mɑ̃.tʁɛ/	s’alimenterait /sa.li.mɑ̃.tʁɛ/	nous alimenterions /nu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	vous alimenteriez /vu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tə.ʁje/	s’alimenteraient /sa.li.mɑ̃.tʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	m’alimente /ma.li.mɑ̃t/	t’alimentes /ta.li.mɑ̃t/	s’alimente /sa.li.mɑ̃t/	nous alimentions /nu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tjɔ̃/	vous alimentiez /vu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tje/	s’alimentent /sa.li.mɑ̃t/
	imperfect2	m’alimentasse /ma.li.mɑ̃.tas/	t’alimentasses /ta.li.mɑ̃.tas/	s’alimentât /sa.li.mɑ̃.ta/	nous alimentassions /nu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.ta.sjɔ̃/	vous alimentassiez /vu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.ta.sje/	s’alimentassent /sa.li.mɑ̃.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	alimente-toi /a.li.mɑ̃t.twa/	—	alimentons-nous /a.li.mɑ̃.tɔ̃.nu/	alimentez-vous /a.li.mɑ̃.te.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + 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).

Related terms

• s’alimenter
• aliment
• alimentation

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• mailèrent, terminale

Middle French

Verb

alimenter

1. to feed; to provide nourishment

Conjugation

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

Conjugation of alimenter

infinitive	simple	alimenter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	alimentant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		alimenté
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	alimente	alimentes	alimente	alimentons	alimentez	alimentent
	imperfect	alimentois, alimentoys	alimentois, alimentoys	alimentoit, alimentoyt	alimentions, alimentyons	alimentiez, alimentyez	alimentoient, alimentoyent
	past historic	alimenta	alimentas	alimenta	alimentasmes	alimentastes	alimenterent
	future	alimenterai, alimenteray	alimenteras	alimentera	alimenterons	alimenterez	alimenteront
	conditional	alimenterois, alimenteroys	alimenterois, alimenteroys	alimenteroit, alimenteroyt	alimenterions, alimenteryons	alimenteriez, alimenteryez	alimenteroient, alimenteroyent
(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	alimente	alimentes	alimente	alimentons	alimentez	alimentent
	imperfect	alimentasse	alimentasses	alimentast	alimentassions	alimentassiez	alimentassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	alimente	—	alimentons	alimentez	—
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).

Related terms

• aliment