ergoter

French

Etymology

From ergot +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

ergoter

1. (figuratively) to quibble; to argue; to contest
2. (transitive) to prune a tree or plant
3. (of poultry) to scratch with the dewclaw (spur)

Conjugation

Conjugation of ergoter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	ergoter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	ergotant /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		ergoté /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	ergote /ɛʁ.ɡɔt/	ergotes /ɛʁ.ɡɔt/	ergote /ɛʁ.ɡɔt/	ergotons /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tɔ̃/	ergotez /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.te/	ergotent /ɛʁ.ɡɔt/
	imperfect	ergotais /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tɛ/	ergotais /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tɛ/	ergotait /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tɛ/	ergotions /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tjɔ̃/	ergotiez /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tje/	ergotaient /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tɛ/
	past historic2	ergotai /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.te/	ergotas /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.ta/	ergota /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.ta/	ergotâmes /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tam/	ergotâtes /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tat/	ergotèrent /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tɛʁ/
	future	ergoterai /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tʁe/	ergoteras /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tʁa/	ergotera /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tʁa/	ergoterons /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tʁɔ̃/	ergoterez /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tʁe/	ergoteront /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	ergoterais /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tʁɛ/	ergoterais /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tʁɛ/	ergoterait /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tʁɛ/	ergoterions /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	ergoteriez /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tə.ʁje/	ergoteraient /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tʁɛ/
(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	ergote /ɛʁ.ɡɔt/	ergotes /ɛʁ.ɡɔt/	ergote /ɛʁ.ɡɔt/	ergotions /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tjɔ̃/	ergotiez /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tje/	ergotent /ɛʁ.ɡɔt/
	imperfect2	ergotasse /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tas/	ergotasses /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tas/	ergotât /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.ta/	ergotassions /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.ta.sjɔ̃/	ergotassiez /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.ta.sje/	ergotassent /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	ergote /ɛʁ.ɡɔt/	—	ergotons /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.tɔ̃/	ergotez /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.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

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