tesmoigner

Middle French

Etymology

Old French, see tesmoing, -er.

Verb

tesmoigner

1. to witness

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of tesmoigner

infinitive	simple	tesmoigner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	tesmoignant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		tesmoigné
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tesmoigne	tesmoignes	tesmoigne	tesmoignons	tesmoignez	tesmoignent
	imperfect	tesmoignois, tesmoignoys	tesmoignois, tesmoignoys	tesmoignoit, tesmoignoyt	tesmoignions, tesmoignyons	tesmoigniez, tesmoignyez	tesmoignoient, tesmoignoyent
	past historic	tesmoigna	tesmoignas	tesmoigna	tesmoignasmes	tesmoignastes	tesmoignerent
	future	tesmoignerai, tesmoigneray	tesmoigneras	tesmoignera	tesmoignerons	tesmoignerez	tesmoigneront
	conditional	tesmoignerois, tesmoigneroys	tesmoignerois, tesmoigneroys	tesmoigneroit, tesmoigneroyt	tesmoignerions, tesmoigneryons	tesmoigneriez, tesmoigneryez	tesmoigneroient, tesmoigneroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	tesmoigne	tesmoignes	tesmoigne	tesmoignons	tesmoignez	tesmoignent
	imperfect	tesmoignasse	tesmoignasses	tesmoignast	tesmoignassions	tesmoignassiez	tesmoignassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tesmoigne	—	tesmoignons	tesmoignez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Descendants

• French: témoigner