ponter

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French pounter. By surface analysis, pont +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔ̃.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

ponter

1. to build a bridge
2. (nautical) to cover a boat with a deck
   • 1888, P. A. Hennique, Les caboteurs et pêcheurs de la côte de Tunisie: pêche des éponges‎^[1], page 57:

     […] c’est le plus petit bateau qu’on ose exposer à la mer du large; il est ponté, d’une construction solide […]

     […] it is the smallest boat one dares expose to the open sea; it is covered with a deck, solidly built […]

Conjugation

Conjugation of ponter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	ponter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	pontant /pɔ̃.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		ponté /pɔ̃.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	ponte /pɔ̃t/	pontes /pɔ̃t/	ponte /pɔ̃t/	pontons /pɔ̃.tɔ̃/	pontez /pɔ̃.te/	pontent /pɔ̃t/
	imperfect	pontais /pɔ̃.tɛ/	pontais /pɔ̃.tɛ/	pontait /pɔ̃.tɛ/	pontions /pɔ̃.tjɔ̃/	pontiez /pɔ̃.tje/	pontaient /pɔ̃.tɛ/
	past historic2	pontai /pɔ̃.te/	pontas /pɔ̃.ta/	ponta /pɔ̃.ta/	pontâmes /pɔ̃.tam/	pontâtes /pɔ̃.tat/	pontèrent /pɔ̃.tɛʁ/
	future	ponterai /pɔ̃.tʁe/	ponteras /pɔ̃.tʁa/	pontera /pɔ̃.tʁa/	ponterons /pɔ̃.tʁɔ̃/	ponterez /pɔ̃.tʁe/	ponteront /pɔ̃.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	ponterais /pɔ̃.tʁɛ/	ponterais /pɔ̃.tʁɛ/	ponterait /pɔ̃.tʁɛ/	ponterions /pɔ̃.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	ponteriez /pɔ̃.tə.ʁje/	ponteraient /pɔ̃.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	ponte /pɔ̃t/	pontes /pɔ̃t/	ponte /pɔ̃t/	pontions /pɔ̃.tjɔ̃/	pontiez /pɔ̃.tje/	pontent /pɔ̃t/
	imperfect2	pontasse /pɔ̃.tas/	pontasses /pɔ̃.tas/	pontât /pɔ̃.ta/	pontassions /pɔ̃.ta.sjɔ̃/	pontassiez /pɔ̃.ta.sje/	pontassent /pɔ̃.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	ponte /pɔ̃t/	—	pontons /pɔ̃.tɔ̃/	pontez /pɔ̃.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

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