contourner

French

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *contornāre, from cum and tornāre. Also con- +‎ tourner.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.tuʁ.ne/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

contourner

1. to circumvent, to bypass, to skirt around
2. to travel from one place to another, to visit several places

Conjugation

Conjugation of contourner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	contourner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	contournant /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		contourné /kɔ̃.tuʁ.ne/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	contourne /kɔ̃.tuʁn/	contournes /kɔ̃.tuʁn/	contourne /kɔ̃.tuʁn/	contournons /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nɔ̃/	contournez /kɔ̃.tuʁ.ne/	contournent /kɔ̃.tuʁn/
	imperfect	contournais /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nɛ/	contournais /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nɛ/	contournait /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nɛ/	contournions /kɔ̃.tuʁ.njɔ̃/	contourniez /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nje/	contournaient /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nɛ/
	past historic2	contournai /kɔ̃.tuʁ.ne/	contournas /kɔ̃.tuʁ.na/	contourna /kɔ̃.tuʁ.na/	contournâmes /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nam/	contournâtes /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nat/	contournèrent /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nɛʁ/
	future	contournerai /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁe/	contourneras /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁa/	contournera /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁa/	contournerons /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃/	contournerez /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁe/	contourneront /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	contournerais /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	contournerais /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	contournerait /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	contournerions /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/	contourneriez /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁje/	contourneraient /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.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	contourne /kɔ̃.tuʁn/	contournes /kɔ̃.tuʁn/	contourne /kɔ̃.tuʁn/	contournions /kɔ̃.tuʁ.njɔ̃/	contourniez /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nje/	contournent /kɔ̃.tuʁn/
	imperfect2	contournasse /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nas/	contournasses /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nas/	contournât /kɔ̃.tuʁ.na/	contournassions /kɔ̃.tuʁ.na.sjɔ̃/	contournassiez /kɔ̃.tuʁ.na.sje/	contournassent /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	contourne /kɔ̃.tuʁn/	—	contournons /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nɔ̃/	contournez /kɔ̃.tuʁ.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).

Synonyms

• faire le tour

Derived terms

• incontournable

Related terms

• contour

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• encourront