obtempérer

See also: obtemperer

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin obtemperāre (“to comply with; to conform to, obey”), from ob + temperō (“to show restraint, moderate”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

obtempérer

1. (transitive) to obey
2. (transitive) to comply (with)

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 obtempérer-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written obtempèrer-, 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 obtempérer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	obtempérer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	obtempérant /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		obtempéré /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	obtempère /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛʁ/	obtempères /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛʁ/	obtempère /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛʁ/	obtempérons /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁɔ̃/	obtempérez /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁe/	obtempèrent /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛʁ/
	imperfect	obtempérais /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁɛ/	obtempérais /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁɛ/	obtempérait /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁɛ/	obtempérions /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁjɔ̃/	obtempériez /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁje/	obtempéraient /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁɛ/
	past historic2	obtempérai /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁe/	obtempéras /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁa/	obtempéra /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁa/	obtempérâmes /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁam/	obtempérâtes /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁat/	obtempérèrent /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁɛʁ/
	future	obtempèrerai or obtempérerai /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁe/ or /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁe/	obtempèreras or obtempéreras /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁa/ or /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁa/	obtempèrera or obtempérera /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁa/ or /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁa/	obtempèrerons or obtempérerons /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/	obtempèrerez or obtempérerez /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁe/ or /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁe/	obtempèreront or obtempéreront /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	obtempèrerais or obtempérerais /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁɛ/	obtempèrerais or obtempérerais /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁɛ/	obtempèrerait or obtempérerait /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁɛ/	obtempèrerions or obtempérerions /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	obtempèreriez or obtempéreriez /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁje/ or /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁje/	obtempèreraient or obtempéreraient /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.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	obtempère /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛʁ/	obtempères /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛʁ/	obtempère /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛʁ/	obtempérions /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁjɔ̃/	obtempériez /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁje/	obtempèrent /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛʁ/
	imperfect2	obtempérasse /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁas/	obtempérasses /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁas/	obtempérât /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁa/	obtempérassions /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁa.sjɔ̃/	obtempérassiez /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁa.sje/	obtempérassent /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	obtempère /ɔp.tɑ̃.pɛʁ/	—	obtempérons /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.ʁɔ̃/	obtempérez /ɔp.tɑ̃.pe.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).

Further reading

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