clairsemer
French
Etymology
Formed from the adjective clairsemé (“sparse”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /klɛʁ.sə.me/
Audio (file)
Verb
clairsemer
- to dwindle
- to disperse, scatter
- to thin out
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 clairsème rather than *il clairseme. Other verbs conjugated this way include lever and mener. Related but distinct conjugations include those of appeler and préférer.
Conjugation of clairsemer (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | clairsemer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | clairsemant /klɛʁ.sə.mɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | clairsemé /klɛʁ.sə.me/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | clairsème /klɛʁ.sɛm/ | clairsèmes /klɛʁ.sɛm/ | clairsème /klɛʁ.sɛm/ | clairsemons /klɛʁ.sə.mɔ̃/ | clairsemez /klɛʁ.sə.me/ | clairsèment /klɛʁ.sɛm/ |
| imperfect | clairsemais /klɛʁ.sə.mɛ/ | clairsemais /klɛʁ.sə.mɛ/ | clairsemait /klɛʁ.sə.mɛ/ | clairsemions /klɛʁ.sə.mjɔ̃/ | clairsemiez /klɛʁ.sə.mje/ | clairsemaient /klɛʁ.sə.mɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | clairsemai /klɛʁ.sə.me/ | clairsemas /klɛʁ.sə.ma/ | clairsema /klɛʁ.sə.ma/ | clairsemâmes /klɛʁ.sə.mam/ | clairsemâtes /klɛʁ.sə.mat/ | clairsemèrent /klɛʁ.sə.mɛʁ/ | |
| future | clairsèmerai /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁe/ | clairsèmeras /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁa/ | clairsèmera /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁa/ | clairsèmerons /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁɔ̃/ | clairsèmerez /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁe/ | clairsèmeront /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | clairsèmerais /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁɛ/ | clairsèmerais /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁɛ/ | clairsèmerait /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁɛ/ | clairsèmerions /klɛʁ.sɛ.mə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /klɛʁ.se.mə.ʁjɔ̃/ | clairsèmeriez /klɛʁ.sɛ.mə.ʁje/ or /klɛʁ.se.mə.ʁje/ | clairsèmeraient /klɛʁ.sɛm.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 | clairsème /klɛʁ.sɛm/ | clairsèmes /klɛʁ.sɛm/ | clairsème /klɛʁ.sɛm/ | clairsemions /klɛʁ.sə.mjɔ̃/ | clairsemiez /klɛʁ.sə.mje/ | clairsèment /klɛʁ.sɛm/ |
| imperfect2 | clairsemasse /klɛʁ.sə.mas/ | clairsemasses /klɛʁ.sə.mas/ | clairsemât /klɛʁ.sə.ma/ | clairsemassions /klɛʁ.sə.ma.sjɔ̃/ | clairsemassiez /klɛʁ.sə.ma.sje/ | clairsemassent /klɛʁ.sə.mas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | clairsème /klɛʁ.sɛm/ | — | clairsemons /klɛʁ.sə.mɔ̃/ | clairsemez /klɛʁ.sə.me/ | — | |
| 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). | |||||||
Further reading
“clairsemer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.