tergiverser

French

Etymology

From Latin tergiversārī, from tergiversor (“to evade”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

tergiverser

1. to delay answering or deciding with excuses
2. to hesitate at length

   Synonym: hésiter

Usage notes

• Do not confuse with English tergiversate

Conjugation

Conjugation of tergiverser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	tergiverser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	tergiversant /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		tergiversé /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tergiverse /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁs/	tergiverses /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁs/	tergiverse /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁs/	tergiversons /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sɔ̃/	tergiversez /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.se/	tergiversent /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁs/
	imperfect	tergiversais /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sɛ/	tergiversais /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sɛ/	tergiversait /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sɛ/	tergiversions /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sjɔ̃/	tergiversiez /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sje/	tergiversaient /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sɛ/
	past historic2	tergiversai /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.se/	tergiversas /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sa/	tergiversa /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sa/	tergiversâmes /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sam/	tergiversâtes /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sat/	tergiversèrent /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sɛʁ/
	future	tergiverserai /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sə.ʁe/	tergiverseras /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sə.ʁa/	tergiversera /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sə.ʁa/	tergiverserons /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sə.ʁɔ̃/	tergiverserez /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sə.ʁe/	tergiverseront /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	tergiverserais /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	tergiverserais /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	tergiverserait /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	tergiverserions /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	tergiverseriez /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sə.ʁje/	tergiverseraient /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sə.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	tergiverse /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁs/	tergiverses /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁs/	tergiverse /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁs/	tergiversions /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sjɔ̃/	tergiversiez /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sje/	tergiversent /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁs/
	imperfect2	tergiversasse /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sas/	tergiversasses /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sas/	tergiversât /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sa/	tergiversassions /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sa.sjɔ̃/	tergiversassiez /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sa.sje/	tergiversassent /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tergiverse /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁs/	—	tergiversons /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.sɔ̃/	tergiversez /tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.se/	—
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).

Further reading

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

Latin

Verb

tergiverser

1. first-person singular present active subjunctive of tergiversor