complaire

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French complaire, borrowed from Latin complacere. By surface analysis, com- +‎ plaire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.plɛʁ/

• Audio:

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• Audio (Canada):

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Verb

complaire

1. (reflexive) to get stuck in, to get caught in
2. (reflexive) to take pleasure in, to bask in
3. (reflexive, derogatory) to wallow, to revel in

Conjugation

plaire and its derived verbs conjugate like taire, except that the third person singular of the present indicative may take a circumflex on the 'i'.

Conjugation of complaire (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	complaire
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	complaisant /kɔ̃.plɛ.zɑ̃/ or /kɔ̃.ple.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		complu /kɔ̃.ply/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	complais /kɔ̃.plɛ/	complais /kɔ̃.plɛ/	complaît or complait /kɔ̃.plɛ/	complaisons /kɔ̃.plɛ.zɔ̃/ or /kɔ̃.ple.zɔ̃/	complaisez /kɔ̃.plɛ.ze/ or /kɔ̃.ple.ze/	complaisent /kɔ̃.plɛz/
	imperfect	complaisais /kɔ̃.plɛ.zɛ/ or /kɔ̃.ple.zɛ/	complaisais /kɔ̃.plɛ.zɛ/ or /kɔ̃.ple.zɛ/	complaisait /kɔ̃.plɛ.zɛ/ or /kɔ̃.ple.zɛ/	complaisions /kɔ̃.plɛ.zjɔ̃/ or /kɔ̃.ple.zjɔ̃/	complaisiez /kɔ̃.plɛ.zje/ or /kɔ̃.ple.zje/	complaisaient /kɔ̃.plɛ.zɛ/ or /kɔ̃.ple.zɛ/
	past historic2	complus /kɔ̃.ply/	complus /kɔ̃.ply/	complut /kɔ̃.ply/	complûmes /kɔ̃.plym/	complûtes /kɔ̃.plyt/	complurent /kɔ̃.plyʁ/
	future	complairai /kɔ̃.plɛ.ʁe/ or /kɔ̃.ple.ʁe/	complairas /kɔ̃.plɛ.ʁa/ or /kɔ̃.ple.ʁa/	complaira /kɔ̃.plɛ.ʁa/ or /kɔ̃.ple.ʁa/	complairons /kɔ̃.plɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /kɔ̃.ple.ʁɔ̃/	complairez /kɔ̃.plɛ.ʁe/ or /kɔ̃.ple.ʁe/	complairont /kɔ̃.plɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /kɔ̃.ple.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	complairais /kɔ̃.plɛ.ʁɛ/ or /kɔ̃.ple.ʁɛ/	complairais /kɔ̃.plɛ.ʁɛ/ or /kɔ̃.ple.ʁɛ/	complairait /kɔ̃.plɛ.ʁɛ/ or /kɔ̃.ple.ʁɛ/	complairions /kɔ̃.plɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /kɔ̃.ple.ʁjɔ̃/	complairiez /kɔ̃.plɛ.ʁje/ or /kɔ̃.ple.ʁje/	complairaient /kɔ̃.plɛ.ʁɛ/ or /kɔ̃.ple.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	complaise /kɔ̃.plɛz/	complaises /kɔ̃.plɛz/	complaise /kɔ̃.plɛz/	complaisions /kɔ̃.plɛ.zjɔ̃/ or /kɔ̃.ple.zjɔ̃/	complaisiez /kɔ̃.plɛ.zje/ or /kɔ̃.ple.zje/	complaisent /kɔ̃.plɛz/
	imperfect2	complusse /kɔ̃.plys/	complusses /kɔ̃.plys/	complût /kɔ̃.ply/	complussions /kɔ̃.ply.sjɔ̃/	complussiez /kɔ̃.ply.sje/	complussent /kɔ̃.plys/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	complais /kɔ̃.plɛ/	—	complaisons /kɔ̃.plɛ.zɔ̃/ or /kɔ̃.ple.zɔ̃/	complaisez /kɔ̃.plɛ.ze/ or /kɔ̃.ple.ze/	—
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

• plaire

Further reading

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

Middle French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin complaceo, complacere.

Verb

complaire

1. to please
   • c. 1369, Jean Froissart, Chroniques:

     Le roy de France, pour luy complaire, par le moien du duc d'Angou, le luy donna

     The King of France, to please him, by the intermediary of the Duke of Anjou, gave it to him

Descendants

• French: complaire
• → English: complease