modérer

See also: moderer

French

Etymology

From Latin moderārī (“mitigate; moderate”) (closely related to modus (“mode”)); cognate with English moderate, Dutch modereren and German moderieren.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /mɔ.de.ʁe/
Audio: (file)

Verb

modérer

(transitive) to moderate, temper, lessen, weaken etc.
Synonyms: adoucir, affaiblir, amoindrir, tempérer
(reflexive, se modérer) to practice moderation
(transitive) to moderate, act as moderator, notably in a gremium

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like céder. It is a regular -er verb, except that its last stem vowel alternates between /e/ (written 'é') and /ɛ/ (written 'è'), with the latter being used before mute 'e'. One special case is the future stem, used in the future and the conditional. Before 1990, the future stem of such verbs was written modérer-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written modèrer-, reflecting the now common pronunciation /ɛ/, thereby making this distinction consistent throughout the conjugation (and also matching in this regard the conjugations of verbs like lever and jeter). Both spellings are in use today, and both are therefore given here.

Conjugation of modérer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	compound	avoir + past participle
infinitive	simple	modérer
present participle or gerund¹	simple	modérant /mɔ.de.ʁɑ̃/
present participle or gerund¹	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		modéré /mɔ.de.ʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	modère /mɔ.dɛʁ/	modères /mɔ.dɛʁ/	modère /mɔ.dɛʁ/	modérons /mɔ.de.ʁɔ̃/	modérez /mɔ.de.ʁe/	modèrent /mɔ.dɛʁ/
	imperfect	modérais /mɔ.de.ʁɛ/	modérais /mɔ.de.ʁɛ/	modérait /mɔ.de.ʁɛ/	modérions /mɔ.de.ʁjɔ̃/	modériez /mɔ.de.ʁje/	modéraient /mɔ.de.ʁɛ/
	past historic²	modérai /mɔ.de.ʁe/	modéras /mɔ.de.ʁa/	modéra /mɔ.de.ʁa/	modérâmes /mɔ.de.ʁam/	modérâtes /mɔ.de.ʁat/	modérèrent /mɔ.de.ʁɛʁ/
	future	modèrerai or modérerai /mɔ.dɛ.ʁə.ʁe/ or /mɔ.de.ʁə.ʁe/	modèreras or modéreras /mɔ.dɛ.ʁə.ʁa/ or /mɔ.de.ʁə.ʁa/	modèrera or modérera /mɔ.dɛ.ʁə.ʁa/ or /mɔ.de.ʁə.ʁa/	modèrerons or modérerons /mɔ.dɛ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /mɔ.de.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/	modèrerez or modérerez /mɔ.dɛ.ʁə.ʁe/ or /mɔ.de.ʁə.ʁe/	modèreront or modéreront /mɔ.dɛ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /mɔ.de.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	modèrerais or modérerais /mɔ.dɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /mɔ.de.ʁə.ʁɛ/	modèrerais or modérerais /mɔ.dɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /mɔ.de.ʁə.ʁɛ/	modèrerait or modérerait /mɔ.dɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /mɔ.de.ʁə.ʁɛ/	modèrerions or modérerions /mɔ.dɛ.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /mɔ.de.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	modèreriez or modéreriez /mɔ.dɛ.ʁə.ʁje/ or /mɔ.de.ʁə.ʁje/	modèreraient or modéreraient /mɔ.dɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /mɔ.de.ʁə.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	modère /mɔ.dɛʁ/	modères /mɔ.dɛʁ/	modère /mɔ.dɛʁ/	modérions /mɔ.de.ʁjɔ̃/	modériez /mɔ.de.ʁje/	modèrent /mɔ.dɛʁ/
(simple tenses)	imperfect²	modérasse /mɔ.de.ʁas/	modérasses /mɔ.de.ʁas/	modérât /mɔ.de.ʁa/	modérassions /mɔ.de.ʁa.sjɔ̃/	modérassiez /mɔ.de.ʁa.sje/	modérassent /mɔ.de.ʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
(compound tenses)	pluperfect²	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	~~nous~~	~~vous~~	–
simple		—	modère /mɔ.dɛʁ/	—	modérons /mɔ.de.ʁɔ̃/	modérez /mɔ.de.ʁe/	—
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).