prosterner

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin prōsternō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔs.tɛʁ.ne/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

Verb

prosterner

1. (reflexive) to bow down

Conjugation

Conjugation of se prosterner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	se prosterner
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	se prosternant /sə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		prosterné /pʁɔs.tɛʁ.ne/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	me prosterne /mə pʁɔs.tɛʁn/	te prosternes /tə pʁɔs.tɛʁn/	se prosterne /sə pʁɔs.tɛʁn/	nous prosternons /nu pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nɔ̃/	vous prosternez /vu pʁɔs.tɛʁ.ne/	se prosternent /sə pʁɔs.tɛʁn/
	imperfect	me prosternais /mə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nɛ/	te prosternais /tə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nɛ/	se prosternait /sə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nɛ/	nous prosternions /nu pʁɔs.tɛʁ.njɔ̃/	vous prosterniez /vu pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nje/	se prosternaient /sə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nɛ/
	past historic2	me prosternai /mə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.ne/	te prosternas /tə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.na/	se prosterna /sə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.na/	nous prosternâmes /nu pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nam/	vous prosternâtes /vu pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nat/	se prosternèrent /sə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nɛʁ/
	future	me prosternerai /mə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nə.ʁe/	te prosterneras /tə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nə.ʁa/	se prosternera /sə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nə.ʁa/	nous prosternerons /nu pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃/	vous prosternerez /vu pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nə.ʁe/	se prosterneront /sə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	me prosternerais /mə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	te prosternerais /tə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	se prosternerait /sə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	nous prosternerions /nu pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/	vous prosterneriez /vu pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nə.ʁje/	se prosterneraient /sə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nə.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	me prosterne /mə pʁɔs.tɛʁn/	te prosternes /tə pʁɔs.tɛʁn/	se prosterne /sə pʁɔs.tɛʁn/	nous prosternions /nu pʁɔs.tɛʁ.njɔ̃/	vous prosterniez /vu pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nje/	se prosternent /sə pʁɔs.tɛʁn/
	imperfect2	me prosternasse /mə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nas/	te prosternasses /tə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nas/	se prosternât /sə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.na/	nous prosternassions /nu pʁɔs.tɛʁ.na.sjɔ̃/	vous prosternassiez /vu pʁɔs.tɛʁ.na.sje/	se prosternassent /sə pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	prosterne-toi /pʁɔs.tɛʁn.twa/	—	prosternons-nous /pʁɔs.tɛʁ.nɔ̃.nu/	prosternez-vous /pʁɔs.tɛʁ.ne.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + 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

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