ciseler
French
Etymology
From Old French cisel (“pair of scissors”) + -er.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /siz.le/
audio (file)
Verb
ciseler
- to chisel
- (of spices) to chop finely
Conjugation
This verb is conjugated mostly like the regular -er verbs (parler and chanter and so on), but the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-. For example, in the third-person singular present indicative, we have il cisèle rather than *il cisele. Other verbs conjugated this way include lever and mener. Related but distinct conjugations include those of appeler and préférer.
Conjugation of ciseler (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive | simple | ciseler | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
present participle or gerund1 | simple | ciselant /siz.lɑ̃/ | |||||
compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
past participle | ciselé /siz.le/ | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) | present | cisèle /si.zɛl/ | cisèles /si.zɛl/ | cisèle /si.zɛl/ | ciselons /siz.lɔ̃/ | ciselez /siz.le/ | cisèlent /si.zɛl/ |
imperfect | ciselais /siz.lɛ/ | ciselais /siz.lɛ/ | ciselait /siz.lɛ/ | ciselions /si.zə.ljɔ̃/ | ciseliez /si.zə.lje/ | ciselaient /siz.lɛ/ | |
past historic2 | ciselai /siz.le/ | ciselas /siz.la/ | cisela /siz.la/ | ciselâmes /siz.lam/ | ciselâtes /siz.lat/ | ciselèrent /siz.lɛʁ/ | |
future | cisèlerai /si.zɛl.ʁe/ | cisèleras /si.zɛl.ʁa/ | cisèlera /si.zɛl.ʁa/ | cisèlerons /si.zɛl.ʁɔ̃/ | cisèlerez /si.zɛl.ʁe/ | cisèleront /si.zɛl.ʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | cisèlerais /si.zɛl.ʁɛ/ | cisèlerais /si.zɛl.ʁɛ/ | cisèlerait /si.zɛl.ʁɛ/ | cisèlerions /si.zɛ.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /si.ze.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ | cisèleriez /si.zɛ.lə.ʁje/ or /si.ze.lə.ʁje/ | cisèleraient /si.zɛl.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 | cisèle /si.zɛl/ | cisèles /si.zɛl/ | cisèle /si.zɛl/ | ciselions /si.zə.ljɔ̃/ | ciseliez /si.zə.lje/ | cisèlent /si.zɛl/ |
imperfect2 | ciselasse /siz.las/ | ciselasses /siz.las/ | ciselât /siz.la/ | ciselassions /siz.la.sjɔ̃/ | ciselassiez /siz.la.sje/ | ciselassent /siz.las/ | |
(compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | cisèle /si.zɛl/ | — | ciselons /siz.lɔ̃/ | ciselez /siz.le/ | — | |
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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). |
Related terms
- ciseau
- ciselage
- ciselure
Descendants
- → Romanian: cizela
Further reading
- “ciseler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.