repérer

French

Etymology

From repère.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʁə.pe.ʁe/
Audio: (file)
Audio (Switzerland): (file)

Verb

repérer

to map out, to mark, to reference
to spot, to detect, to pick out
(reflexive) to get one's bearings, to work out where one is, to find one's way
Synonyms: s’orienter, trouver son chemin

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

infinitive	compound	avoir + past participle
infinitive	simple	repérer
present participle or gerund¹	simple	repérant /ʁə.pe.ʁɑ̃/
present participle or gerund¹	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		repéré /ʁə.pe.ʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	repère /ʁə.pɛʁ/	repères /ʁə.pɛʁ/	repère /ʁə.pɛʁ/	repérons /ʁə.pe.ʁɔ̃/	repérez /ʁə.pe.ʁe/	repèrent /ʁə.pɛʁ/
	imperfect	repérais /ʁə.pe.ʁɛ/	repérais /ʁə.pe.ʁɛ/	repérait /ʁə.pe.ʁɛ/	repérions /ʁə.pe.ʁjɔ̃/	repériez /ʁə.pe.ʁje/	repéraient /ʁə.pe.ʁɛ/
	past historic²	repérai /ʁə.pe.ʁe/	repéras /ʁə.pe.ʁa/	repéra /ʁə.pe.ʁa/	repérâmes /ʁə.pe.ʁam/	repérâtes /ʁə.pe.ʁat/	repérèrent /ʁə.pe.ʁɛʁ/
	future	repèrerai or repérerai /ʁə.pɛ.ʁə.ʁe/ or /ʁə.pe.ʁə.ʁe/	repèreras or repéreras /ʁə.pɛ.ʁə.ʁa/ or /ʁə.pe.ʁə.ʁa/	repèrera or repérera /ʁə.pɛ.ʁə.ʁa/ or /ʁə.pe.ʁə.ʁa/	repèrerons or repérerons /ʁə.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʁə.pe.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/	repèrerez or repérerez /ʁə.pɛ.ʁə.ʁe/ or /ʁə.pe.ʁə.ʁe/	repèreront or repéreront /ʁə.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʁə.pe.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	repèrerais or repérerais /ʁə.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ʁə.pe.ʁə.ʁɛ/	repèrerais or repérerais /ʁə.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ʁə.pe.ʁə.ʁɛ/	repèrerait or repérerait /ʁə.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ʁə.pe.ʁə.ʁɛ/	repèrerions or repérerions /ʁə.pɛ.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ʁə.pe.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	repèreriez or repéreriez /ʁə.pɛ.ʁə.ʁje/ or /ʁə.pe.ʁə.ʁje/	repèreraient or repéreraient /ʁə.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ʁə.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	repère /ʁə.pɛʁ/	repères /ʁə.pɛʁ/	repère /ʁə.pɛʁ/	repérions /ʁə.pe.ʁjɔ̃/	repériez /ʁə.pe.ʁje/	repèrent /ʁə.pɛʁ/
(simple tenses)	imperfect²	repérasse /ʁə.pe.ʁas/	repérasses /ʁə.pe.ʁas/	repérât /ʁə.pe.ʁa/	repérassions /ʁə.pe.ʁa.sjɔ̃/	repérassiez /ʁə.pe.ʁa.sje/	repérassent /ʁə.pe.ʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
(compound tenses)	pluperfect²	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	~~nous~~	~~vous~~	–
simple		—	repère /ʁə.pɛʁ/	—	repérons /ʁə.pe.ʁɔ̃/	repérez /ʁə.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).

Related terms

repère