cantonner

French

Etymology

From canton +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɑ̃.tɔ.ne/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

cantonner

1. (military) to station; billet (troops)
2. (intransitive, military) to be stationed, be billeted
3. (transitive) to confine (someone to)
4. (reflexive, with dans) to take refuge (in)
5. (reflexive, with à, dans) to restrict oneself (to); focus (on)
   • 2023 March 16, José-Alain Fralon, “Festival Nos futurs : la génération transitions veut faire bouger les lignes”, in Le Monde‎^[1]:

     Tertio : s’ouvrir sur l’extérieur, ne pas se cantonner à son pré carré.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

6. (reflexive, with à, dans) be restricted, confined
   • 2023 May 19, “La Russie déclare l’ONG Greenpeace « indésirable »”, in Le Monde‎^[2]:

     Loin de se cantonner à l’opposition politique, cette répression touche tous les domaines, comme les milieux culturels et les organisations écologistes.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

7. (reflexive, military, with dans) to fortify, set up or establish defenses

Conjugation

Conjugation of cantonner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	cantonner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	cantonnant /kɑ̃.tɔ.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		cantonné /kɑ̃.tɔ.ne/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	cantonne /kɑ̃.tɔn/	cantonnes /kɑ̃.tɔn/	cantonne /kɑ̃.tɔn/	cantonnons /kɑ̃.tɔ.nɔ̃/	cantonnez /kɑ̃.tɔ.ne/	cantonnent /kɑ̃.tɔn/
	imperfect	cantonnais /kɑ̃.tɔ.nɛ/	cantonnais /kɑ̃.tɔ.nɛ/	cantonnait /kɑ̃.tɔ.nɛ/	cantonnions /kɑ̃.tɔ.njɔ̃/	cantonniez /kɑ̃.tɔ.nje/	cantonnaient /kɑ̃.tɔ.nɛ/
	past historic2	cantonnai /kɑ̃.tɔ.ne/	cantonnas /kɑ̃.tɔ.na/	cantonna /kɑ̃.tɔ.na/	cantonnâmes /kɑ̃.tɔ.nam/	cantonnâtes /kɑ̃.tɔ.nat/	cantonnèrent /kɑ̃.tɔ.nɛʁ/
	future	cantonnerai /kɑ̃.tɔn.ʁe/	cantonneras /kɑ̃.tɔn.ʁa/	cantonnera /kɑ̃.tɔn.ʁa/	cantonnerons /kɑ̃.tɔn.ʁɔ̃/	cantonnerez /kɑ̃.tɔn.ʁe/	cantonneront /kɑ̃.tɔn.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	cantonnerais /kɑ̃.tɔn.ʁɛ/	cantonnerais /kɑ̃.tɔn.ʁɛ/	cantonnerait /kɑ̃.tɔn.ʁɛ/	cantonnerions /kɑ̃.tɔ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/	cantonneriez /kɑ̃.tɔ.nə.ʁje/	cantonneraient /kɑ̃.tɔn.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	cantonne /kɑ̃.tɔn/	cantonnes /kɑ̃.tɔn/	cantonne /kɑ̃.tɔn/	cantonnions /kɑ̃.tɔ.njɔ̃/	cantonniez /kɑ̃.tɔ.nje/	cantonnent /kɑ̃.tɔn/
	imperfect2	cantonnasse /kɑ̃.tɔ.nas/	cantonnasses /kɑ̃.tɔ.nas/	cantonnât /kɑ̃.tɔ.na/	cantonnassions /kɑ̃.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃/	cantonnassiez /kɑ̃.tɔ.na.sje/	cantonnassent /kɑ̃.tɔ.nas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	cantonne /kɑ̃.tɔn/	—	cantonnons /kɑ̃.tɔ.nɔ̃/	cantonnez /kɑ̃.tɔ.ne/	—
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

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