repentir

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French repentir, from Vulgar Latin *repaenitīre, from Late Latin paenitīre, from Classical Latin paenitēre. Compare English repent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.pɑ̃.tiʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

repentir

1. (pronominal) to repent

   Elle ne s’est jamais repentie jusqu’à sa mort.

   She never repented until her death.

Conjugation

This is one of a fairly large group of irregular -ir verbs that are all conjugated the same way. Other members of this group include sortir and dormir. The most significant difference between these verbs' conjugation and that of the regular -ir verbs is that these verbs' conjugation does not use the infix -iss-. Further, this conjugation has the forms (je, tu) repens and (il) repent in the present indicative and imperative, whereas a regular -ir verb would have *repentis and *repentit (as in the past historic).

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

infinitive	simple	se repentir
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	se repentant /sə ʁə.pɑ̃.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		repenti /ʁə.pɑ̃.ti/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	me repens /mə ʁə.pɑ̃/	te repens /tə ʁə.pɑ̃/	se repent /sə ʁə.pɑ̃/	nous repentons /nu ʁə.pɑ̃.tɔ̃/	vous repentez /vu ʁə.pɑ̃.te/	se repentent /sə ʁə.pɑ̃t/
	imperfect	me repentais /mə ʁə.pɑ̃.tɛ/	te repentais /tə ʁə.pɑ̃.tɛ/	se repentait /sə ʁə.pɑ̃.tɛ/	nous repentions /nu ʁə.pɑ̃.tjɔ̃/	vous repentiez /vu ʁə.pɑ̃.tje/	se repentaient /sə ʁə.pɑ̃.tɛ/
	past historic2	me repentis /mə ʁə.pɑ̃.ti/	te repentis /tə ʁə.pɑ̃.ti/	se repentit /sə ʁə.pɑ̃.ti/	nous repentîmes /nu ʁə.pɑ̃.tim/	vous repentîtes /vu ʁə.pɑ̃.tit/	se repentirent /sə ʁə.pɑ̃.tiʁ/
	future	me repentirai /mə ʁə.pɑ̃.ti.ʁe/	te repentiras /tə ʁə.pɑ̃.ti.ʁa/	se repentira /sə ʁə.pɑ̃.ti.ʁa/	nous repentirons /nu ʁə.pɑ̃.ti.ʁɔ̃/	vous repentirez /vu ʁə.pɑ̃.ti.ʁe/	se repentiront /sə ʁə.pɑ̃.ti.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	me repentirais /mə ʁə.pɑ̃.ti.ʁɛ/	te repentirais /tə ʁə.pɑ̃.ti.ʁɛ/	se repentirait /sə ʁə.pɑ̃.ti.ʁɛ/	nous repentirions /nu ʁə.pɑ̃.ti.ʁjɔ̃/	vous repentiriez /vu ʁə.pɑ̃.ti.ʁje/	se repentiraient /sə ʁə.pɑ̃.ti.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 repente /mə ʁə.pɑ̃t/	te repentes /tə ʁə.pɑ̃t/	se repente /sə ʁə.pɑ̃t/	nous repentions /nu ʁə.pɑ̃.tjɔ̃/	vous repentiez /vu ʁə.pɑ̃.tje/	se repentent /sə ʁə.pɑ̃t/
	imperfect2	me repentisse /mə ʁə.pɑ̃.tis/	te repentisses /tə ʁə.pɑ̃.tis/	se repentît /sə ʁə.pɑ̃.ti/	nous repentissions /nu ʁə.pɑ̃.ti.sjɔ̃/	vous repentissiez /vu ʁə.pɑ̃.ti.sje/	se repentissent /sə ʁə.pɑ̃.tis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	repens-toi /ʁə.pɑ̃.twa/	—	repentons-nous /ʁə.pɑ̃.tɔ̃.nu/	repentez-vous /ʁə.pɑ̃.te.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).

Noun

repentir m (plural repentirs)

1. repentance

   Near-synonyms: remords, regret

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• périrent, prièrent, ripèrent

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French repentir.

Verb

repentir

1. to repent

Descendants

• French: repentir

Old French

Alternative forms

• rappantir, rempentir

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *repaenitīre, from Late Latin paenitīre, from Classical Latin paenitēre.

Verb

repentir

1. to repent

   Synonym: pentir

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of repentir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		repentir			avoir repenti
gerund		en repentant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		repentant
past participle		repenti
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	repent	repenz	repent	repentons	repentez	repentent
	imperfect	repentoie, repenteie	repentoies, repenteies	repentoit, repenteit	repentiiens, repentiens	repentiiez, repentiez	repentoient, repenteient
	preterite	repenti	repentis	repenti	repentimes	repentistes	repentirent
	future	repentirai	repentiras	repentira	repentirons	repentiroiz, repentireiz, repentirez	repentiront
	conditional	repentiroie, repentireie	repentiroies, repentireies	repentiroit, repentireit	repentiriiens, repentiriens	repentiriiez, repentiriez	repentiroient, repentireient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	repente	repentes	repente	repentons	repentez	repentent
	imperfect	repentisse	repentisses	repentist	repentissons, repentissiens	repentissoiz, repentissez, repentissiez	repentissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	repent	—	repentons	repentez	—

Descendants

• Middle French: repentir
  • French: repentir
• Norman: r'penti
• Walloon: ripinti
• → Middle English: repenten
  • English: repent

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “pœnĭtēre”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 9: Placabilis–Pyxis, page 120