dompter

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French donter, from Latin domitāre. The p is unetymological, also seen in terms like Old French dampner (Latin damnō, Modern French damner).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɔ̃.te/, /dɔ̃p.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

dompter (transitive)

1. to tame (a wild animal), break in (a horse)

   Synonym: apprivoiser

   dompter un cheval ― to break in a horse

   dompter un taureau ― to tame a bull

2. to tame, to subdue, to suppress (rebellion, uprising, emotions etc.)
   • 1883, Ernest Renan, Souvenirs d’enfance et de jeunesse, collection Folio, page 137:

     On sentait une puissante individualité, que la foi s’était assujettie, mais que la règle ecclésiastique n’avait pas domptée.

     One felt a powerful individuality which faith had subjugated, but which ecclesiastical law had not tamed.

Conjugation

Conjugation of dompter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	dompter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	domptant /dɔ̃.tɑ̃/ or /dɔ̃p.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		dompté /dɔ̃.te/ or /dɔ̃p.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	dompte /dɔ̃t/ or /dɔ̃pt/	domptes /dɔ̃t/ or /dɔ̃pt/	dompte /dɔ̃t/ or /dɔ̃pt/	domptons /dɔ̃.tɔ̃/ or /dɔ̃p.tɔ̃/	domptez /dɔ̃.te/ or /dɔ̃p.te/	domptent /dɔ̃t/ or /dɔ̃pt/
	imperfect	domptais /dɔ̃.tɛ/ or /dɔ̃p.tɛ/	domptais /dɔ̃.tɛ/ or /dɔ̃p.tɛ/	domptait /dɔ̃.tɛ/ or /dɔ̃p.tɛ/	domptions /dɔ̃.tjɔ̃/ or /dɔ̃p.tjɔ̃/	domptiez /dɔ̃.tje/ or /dɔ̃p.tje/	domptaient /dɔ̃.tɛ/ or /dɔ̃p.tɛ/
	past historic2	domptai /dɔ̃.te/ or /dɔ̃p.te/	domptas /dɔ̃.ta/ or /dɔ̃p.ta/	dompta /dɔ̃.ta/ or /dɔ̃p.ta/	domptâmes /dɔ̃.tam/ or /dɔ̃p.tam/	domptâtes /dɔ̃.tat/ or /dɔ̃p.tat/	domptèrent /dɔ̃.tɛʁ/ or /dɔ̃p.tɛʁ/
	future	dompterai /dɔ̃.tʁe/ or /dɔ̃p.tə.ʁe/	dompteras /dɔ̃.tʁa/ or /dɔ̃p.tə.ʁa/	domptera /dɔ̃.tʁa/ or /dɔ̃p.tə.ʁa/	dompterons /dɔ̃.tʁɔ̃/ or /dɔ̃p.tə.ʁɔ̃/	dompterez /dɔ̃.tʁe/ or /dɔ̃p.tə.ʁe/	dompteront /dɔ̃.tʁɔ̃/ or /dɔ̃p.tə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	dompterais /dɔ̃.tʁɛ/ or /dɔ̃p.tə.ʁɛ/	dompterais /dɔ̃.tʁɛ/ or /dɔ̃p.tə.ʁɛ/	dompterait /dɔ̃.tʁɛ/ or /dɔ̃p.tə.ʁɛ/	dompterions /dɔ̃.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /dɔ̃p.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	dompteriez /dɔ̃.tə.ʁje/ or /dɔ̃p.tə.ʁje/	dompteraient /dɔ̃.tʁɛ/ or /dɔ̃p.tə.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	dompte /dɔ̃t/ or /dɔ̃pt/	domptes /dɔ̃t/ or /dɔ̃pt/	dompte /dɔ̃t/ or /dɔ̃pt/	domptions /dɔ̃.tjɔ̃/ or /dɔ̃p.tjɔ̃/	domptiez /dɔ̃.tje/ or /dɔ̃p.tje/	domptent /dɔ̃t/ or /dɔ̃pt/
	imperfect2	domptasse /dɔ̃.tas/ or /dɔ̃p.tas/	domptasses /dɔ̃.tas/ or /dɔ̃p.tas/	domptât /dɔ̃.ta/ or /dɔ̃p.ta/	domptassions /dɔ̃.ta.sjɔ̃/ or /dɔ̃p.ta.sjɔ̃/	domptassiez /dɔ̃.ta.sje/ or /dɔ̃p.ta.sje/	domptassent /dɔ̃.tas/ or /dɔ̃p.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	dompte /dɔ̃t/ or /dɔ̃pt/	—	domptons /dɔ̃.tɔ̃/ or /dɔ̃p.tɔ̃/	domptez /dɔ̃.te/ or /dɔ̃p.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).

Further reading

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