départager
French
Etymology
From dé- + partager.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /de.paʁ.ta.ʒe/
Audio (file)
Verb
départager
- (transitive) to shift the balance between two parties of, or break the tie between, decide between
- Le maire, par son vote, a départagé le conseil municipal. ― The mayor, with his vote, broke the tie between the council members.
- Il n’y a jamais lieu, en matière criminelle, à départager les juges, l’avis le plus doux étant toujours celui qui prévaut.
- There is never reason, in criminal matters, to decide between (the rulings of) the judges, the softest opinion always being the one that prevails.
- (transitive) to divide, separate
- (transitive) to isolate, separate, determine
- (transitive) to distinguish, differentiate, or decide between
- (reflexive, sports) to find a winner, break a (or the) tie
- Les deux équipes n'ont pas pu se départager. Score final : 28 à 28. ― The two teams came to a stalemate. Final score: 28-28.
Conjugation
This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written départage- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a "soft" /ʒ/ and not a "hard" /ɡ/). This spelling-change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.
Conjugation of départager (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | départager | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | départageant /de.paʁ.ta.ʒɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | départagé /de.paʁ.ta.ʒe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | départage /de.paʁ.taʒ/ | départages /de.paʁ.taʒ/ | départage /de.paʁ.taʒ/ | départageons /de.paʁ.ta.ʒɔ̃/ | départagez /de.paʁ.ta.ʒe/ | départagent /de.paʁ.taʒ/ |
| imperfect | départageais /de.paʁ.ta.ʒɛ/ | départageais /de.paʁ.ta.ʒɛ/ | départageait /de.paʁ.ta.ʒɛ/ | départagions /de.paʁ.ta.ʒjɔ̃/ | départagiez /de.paʁ.ta.ʒje/ | départageaient /de.paʁ.ta.ʒɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | départageai /de.paʁ.ta.ʒe/ | départageas /de.paʁ.ta.ʒa/ | départagea /de.paʁ.ta.ʒa/ | départageâmes /de.paʁ.ta.ʒam/ | départageâtes /de.paʁ.ta.ʒat/ | départagèrent /de.paʁ.ta.ʒɛʁ/ | |
| future | départagerai /de.paʁ.taʒ.ʁe/ | départageras /de.paʁ.taʒ.ʁa/ | départagera /de.paʁ.taʒ.ʁa/ | départagerons /de.paʁ.taʒ.ʁɔ̃/ | départagerez /de.paʁ.taʒ.ʁe/ | départageront /de.paʁ.taʒ.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | départagerais /de.paʁ.taʒ.ʁɛ/ | départagerais /de.paʁ.taʒ.ʁɛ/ | départagerait /de.paʁ.taʒ.ʁɛ/ | départagerions /de.paʁ.ta.ʒə.ʁjɔ̃/ | départageriez /de.paʁ.ta.ʒə.ʁje/ | départageraient /de.paʁ.taʒ.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 | départage /de.paʁ.taʒ/ | départages /de.paʁ.taʒ/ | départage /de.paʁ.taʒ/ | départagions /de.paʁ.ta.ʒjɔ̃/ | départagiez /de.paʁ.ta.ʒje/ | départagent /de.paʁ.taʒ/ |
| imperfect2 | départageasse /de.paʁ.ta.ʒas/ | départageasses /de.paʁ.ta.ʒas/ | départageât /de.paʁ.ta.ʒa/ | départageassions /de.paʁ.ta.ʒa.sjɔ̃/ | départageassiez /de.paʁ.ta.ʒa.sje/ | départageassent /de.paʁ.ta.ʒas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | départage /de.paʁ.taʒ/ | — | départageons /de.paʁ.ta.ʒɔ̃/ | départagez /de.paʁ.ta.ʒe/ | — | |
| 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
- “départager”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.