délayer

See also: delayer

French

Etymology

Perhaps from Vulgar Latin delicāre, from Latin deliquāre, and influenced phonetically by the unrelated Old French delaier (cf. délai).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /de.lɛ.je/ ~ /de.le.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

délayer

1. (transitive) to add water to
   1. to thin (paint)
   2. to water down (another liquid)
2. to pad out (e.g. a speech)

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb as far as pronunciation is concerned, but as with other verbs in -ayer (such as payer and essayer), the <y> of its stem may optionally be written as <i> when it precedes a silent <e> (compare verbs in -eyer, which never have this spelling change, and verbs in -oyer and -uyer, which always have it; verbs in -ayer belong to either group, according to the writer's preference).

Conjugation of délayer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	délayer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	délayant /de.lɛ.jɑ̃/ or /de.le.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		délayé /de.lɛ.je/ or /de.le.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	délaye or délaie /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/	délayes or délaies /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/	délaye or délaie /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/	délayons /de.lɛ.jɔ̃/ or /de.le.jɔ̃/	délayez /de.lɛ.je/ or /de.le.je/	délayent or délaient /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/
	imperfect	délayais /de.lɛ.jɛ/ or /de.le.jɛ/	délayais /de.lɛ.jɛ/ or /de.le.jɛ/	délayait /de.lɛ.jɛ/ or /de.le.jɛ/	délayions /de.lɛj.jɔ̃/	délayiez /de.lɛj.je/	délayaient /de.lɛ.jɛ/ or /de.le.jɛ/
	past historic2	délayai /de.lɛ.je/ or /de.le.je/	délayas /de.lɛ.ja/ or /de.le.ja/	délaya /de.lɛ.ja/ or /de.le.ja/	délayâmes /de.lɛ.jam/ or /de.le.jam/	délayâtes /de.lɛ.jat/ or /de.le.jat/	délayèrent /de.lɛ.jɛʁ/ or /de.le.jɛʁ/
	future	délayerai or délaierai /de.lɛj.ʁe/ or /de.lɛ.ʁe/ or /de.le.ʁe/	délayeras or délaieras /de.lɛj.ʁa/ or /de.lɛ.ʁa/ or /de.le.ʁa/	délayera or délaiera /de.lɛj.ʁa/ or /de.lɛ.ʁa/ or /de.le.ʁa/	délayerons or délaierons /de.lɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /de.lɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /de.le.ʁɔ̃/	délayerez or délaierez /de.lɛj.ʁe/ or /de.lɛ.ʁe/ or /de.le.ʁe/	délayeront or délaieront /de.lɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /de.lɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /de.le.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	délayerais or délaierais /de.lɛj.ʁɛ/ or /de.lɛ.ʁɛ/ or /de.le.ʁɛ/	délayerais or délaierais /de.lɛj.ʁɛ/ or /de.lɛ.ʁɛ/ or /de.le.ʁɛ/	délayerait or délaierait /de.lɛj.ʁɛ/ or /de.lɛ.ʁɛ/ or /de.le.ʁɛ/	délayerions or délaierions /de.lɛ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /de.le.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /de.lɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /de.le.ʁjɔ̃/	délayeriez or délaieriez /de.lɛ.jə.ʁje/ or /de.le.jə.ʁje/ or /de.lɛ.ʁje/ or /de.le.ʁje/	délayeraient or délaieraient /de.lɛj.ʁɛ/ or /de.lɛ.ʁɛ/ or /de.le.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	délaye or délaie /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/	délayes or délaies /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/	délaye or délaie /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/	délayions /de.lɛj.jɔ̃/	délayiez /de.lɛj.je/	délayent or délaient /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/
	imperfect2	délayasse /de.lɛ.jas/ or /de.le.jas/	délayasses /de.lɛ.jas/ or /de.le.jas/	délayât /de.lɛ.ja/ or /de.le.ja/	délayassions /de.lɛ.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /de.le.ja.sjɔ̃/	délayassiez /de.lɛ.ja.sje/ or /de.le.ja.sje/	délayassent /de.lɛ.jas/ or /de.le.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	délaye or délaie /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/	—	délayons /de.lɛ.jɔ̃/ or /de.le.jɔ̃/	délayez /de.lɛ.je/ or /de.le.je/	—
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

• délayement

Further reading

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