subsister

English

Etymology

From subsist +‎ -er.

Noun

subsister (plural subsisters)

1. One who subsists.
   • 1843, Andrew Clarke, Tour in France, Italy and Switzerland: During the Years 1840 and 1841, page 25:

     a race of disobedient children, a progeny of beggars, a nation of bare subsisters on the soil

French

Etymology

From Latin subsistō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /syb.zis.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

subsister

1. to subsist, live on, go on, keep going
2. to stay, remain

Conjugation

Conjugation of subsister (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	subsister
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	subsistant /syb.zis.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		subsisté /syb.zis.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	subsiste /syb.zist/	subsistes /syb.zist/	subsiste /syb.zist/	subsistons /syb.zis.tɔ̃/	subsistez /syb.zis.te/	subsistent /syb.zist/
	imperfect	subsistais /syb.zis.tɛ/	subsistais /syb.zis.tɛ/	subsistait /syb.zis.tɛ/	subsistions /syb.zis.tjɔ̃/	subsistiez /syb.zis.tje/	subsistaient /syb.zis.tɛ/
	past historic2	subsistai /syb.zis.te/	subsistas /syb.zis.ta/	subsista /syb.zis.ta/	subsistâmes /syb.zis.tam/	subsistâtes /syb.zis.tat/	subsistèrent /syb.zis.tɛʁ/
	future	subsisterai /syb.zis.tə.ʁe/	subsisteras /syb.zis.tə.ʁa/	subsistera /syb.zis.tə.ʁa/	subsisterons /syb.zis.tə.ʁɔ̃/	subsisterez /syb.zis.tə.ʁe/	subsisteront /syb.zis.tə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	subsisterais /syb.zis.tə.ʁɛ/	subsisterais /syb.zis.tə.ʁɛ/	subsisterait /syb.zis.tə.ʁɛ/	subsisterions /syb.zis.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	subsisteriez /syb.zis.tə.ʁje/	subsisteraient /syb.zis.tə.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	subsiste /syb.zist/	subsistes /syb.zist/	subsiste /syb.zist/	subsistions /syb.zis.tjɔ̃/	subsistiez /syb.zis.tje/	subsistent /syb.zist/
	imperfect2	subsistasse /syb.zis.tas/	subsistasses /syb.zis.tas/	subsistât /syb.zis.ta/	subsistassions /syb.zis.ta.sjɔ̃/	subsistassiez /syb.zis.ta.sje/	subsistassent /syb.zis.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	subsiste /syb.zist/	—	subsistons /syb.zis.tɔ̃/	subsistez /syb.zis.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).

Related terms

• subsistance

Further reading

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