espacer

French

Etymology

From espace +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛs.pa.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

espacer

1. (transitive) to space out, to allow gaps or intervals between

Conjugation

This verb is part of a group of -er verbs for which 'c' is softened to a 'ç' before the vowels 'a' and 'o'.

Conjugation of espacer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	espacer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	espaçant /ɛs.pa.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		espacé /ɛs.pa.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	espace /ɛs.pas/	espaces /ɛs.pas/	espace /ɛs.pas/	espaçons /ɛs.pa.sɔ̃/	espacez /ɛs.pa.se/	espacent /ɛs.pas/
	imperfect	espaçais /ɛs.pa.sɛ/	espaçais /ɛs.pa.sɛ/	espaçait /ɛs.pa.sɛ/	espacions /ɛs.pa.sjɔ̃/	espaciez /ɛs.pa.sje/	espaçaient /ɛs.pa.sɛ/
	past historic2	espaçai /ɛs.pa.se/	espaças /ɛs.pa.sa/	espaça /ɛs.pa.sa/	espaçâmes /ɛs.pa.sam/	espaçâtes /ɛs.pa.sat/	espacèrent /ɛs.pa.sɛʁ/
	future	espacerai /ɛs.pa.sʁe/	espaceras /ɛs.pa.sʁa/	espacera /ɛs.pa.sʁa/	espacerons /ɛs.pa.sʁɔ̃/	espacerez /ɛs.pa.sʁe/	espaceront /ɛs.pa.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	espacerais /ɛs.pa.sʁɛ/	espacerais /ɛs.pa.sʁɛ/	espacerait /ɛs.pa.sʁɛ/	espacerions /ɛs.pa.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	espaceriez /ɛs.pa.sə.ʁje/	espaceraient /ɛs.pa.sʁɛ/
(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	espace /ɛs.pas/	espaces /ɛs.pas/	espace /ɛs.pas/	espacions /ɛs.pa.sjɔ̃/	espaciez /ɛs.pa.sje/	espacent /ɛs.pas/
	imperfect2	espaçasse /ɛs.pa.sas/	espaçasses /ɛs.pa.sas/	espaçât /ɛs.pa.sa/	espaçassions /ɛs.pa.sa.sjɔ̃/	espaçassiez /ɛs.pa.sa.sje/	espaçassent /ɛs.pa.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	espace /ɛs.pas/	—	espaçons /ɛs.pa.sɔ̃/	espacez /ɛs.pa.se/	—
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

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