balbutier

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin balbūtīre (formed as if from a *balbutiāre, remade from the first-person singular present indicative).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bal.by.sje/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

balbutier

1. to stammer; to stutter

   Synonym: bégayer

Conjugation

Conjugation of balbutier (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	balbutier
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	balbutiant /bal.by.sjɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		balbutié /bal.by.sje/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	balbutie /bal.by.si/	balbuties /bal.by.si/	balbutie /bal.by.si/	balbutions /bal.by.sjɔ̃/	balbutiez /bal.by.sje/	balbutient /bal.by.si/
	imperfect	balbutiais /bal.by.sjɛ/	balbutiais /bal.by.sjɛ/	balbutiait /bal.by.sjɛ/	balbutiions /bal.by.si.jɔ̃/	balbutiiez /bal.by.si.je/	balbutiaient /bal.by.sjɛ/
	past historic2	balbutiai /bal.by.sje/	balbutias /bal.by.sja/	balbutia /bal.by.sja/	balbutiâmes /bal.by.sjam/	balbutiâtes /bal.by.sjat/	balbutièrent /bal.by.sjɛʁ/
	future	balbutierai /bal.by.si.ʁe/	balbutieras /bal.by.si.ʁa/	balbutiera /bal.by.si.ʁa/	balbutierons /bal.by.si.ʁɔ̃/	balbutierez /bal.by.si.ʁe/	balbutieront /bal.by.si.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	balbutierais /bal.by.si.ʁɛ/	balbutierais /bal.by.si.ʁɛ/	balbutierait /bal.by.si.ʁɛ/	balbutierions /bal.by.si.ʁjɔ̃/	balbutieriez /bal.by.si.ʁje/	balbutieraient /bal.by.si.ʁɛ/
(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	balbutie /bal.by.si/	balbuties /bal.by.si/	balbutie /bal.by.si/	balbutiions /bal.by.si.jɔ̃/	balbutiiez /bal.by.si.je/	balbutient /bal.by.si/
	imperfect2	balbutiasse /bal.by.sjas/	balbutiasses /bal.by.sjas/	balbutiât /bal.by.sja/	balbutiassions /bal.by.sja.sjɔ̃/	balbutiassiez /bal.by.sja.sje/	balbutiassent /bal.by.sjas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	balbutie /bal.by.si/	—	balbutions /bal.by.sjɔ̃/	balbutiez /bal.by.sje/	—
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

• balbutieur

Further reading

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