effrayer
French
Etymology
From Middle French effreer, from Old French esfroier, esfreer, esfraer (whence also English affray), from a Vulgar Latin *exfridāre, itself of Germanic origin (with the prefix ex- added), from a Frankish *friþu (“security, peace”), from Proto-Germanic *friþuz (“peace”), from *frijōną (“to free; to love”), from Proto-Indo-European *prāy-, *prēy- (“to like, love”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /e.fʁɛ.je/, /e.fʁe.je/
audio (file)
Verb
effrayer
- (transitive) to frighten, to scare, to affray
- Synonyms: épouvanter, faire peur, horrifier, terrifier, terroriser
- 2018, Zaz, Je parle
- C'est le silence qui m'effraie.
- It's silence that frightens me.
Conjugation
This is a regular -er verb as far as pronunciation is concerned, but as with other verbs in -ayer (such as payer and essayer, the <y> of its stem may optionally be written as <i> when it precedes a silent <e> (compare verbs in -eyer, which never have this spelling change, and verbs in -oyer and -uyer, which always have it; verbs in -ayer belong to either group, according to the writer's preference).
Conjugation of effrayer (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | effrayer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | effrayant /e.fʁɛ.jɑ̃/ or /e.fʁe.jɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | effrayé /e.fʁɛ.je/ or /e.fʁe.je/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | effraye or effraie /e.fʁɛj/ or /e.fʁɛ/ | effrayes or effraies /e.fʁɛj/ or /e.fʁɛ/ | effraye or effraie /e.fʁɛj/ or /e.fʁɛ/ | effrayons /e.fʁɛ.jɔ̃/ or /e.fʁe.jɔ̃/ | effrayez /e.fʁɛ.je/ or /e.fʁe.je/ | effrayent or effraient /e.fʁɛj/ or /e.fʁɛ/ |
| imperfect | effrayais /e.fʁɛ.jɛ/ or /e.fʁe.jɛ/ | effrayais /e.fʁɛ.jɛ/ or /e.fʁe.jɛ/ | effrayait /e.fʁɛ.jɛ/ or /e.fʁe.jɛ/ | effrayions /e.fʁɛj.jɔ̃/ | effrayiez /e.fʁɛj.je/ | effrayaient /e.fʁɛ.jɛ/ or /e.fʁe.jɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | effrayai /e.fʁɛ.je/ or /e.fʁe.je/ | effrayas /e.fʁɛ.ja/ or /e.fʁe.ja/ | effraya /e.fʁɛ.ja/ or /e.fʁe.ja/ | effrayâmes /e.fʁɛ.jam/ or /e.fʁe.jam/ | effrayâtes /e.fʁɛ.jat/ or /e.fʁe.jat/ | effrayèrent /e.fʁɛ.jɛʁ/ or /e.fʁe.jɛʁ/ | |
| future | effrayerai or effraierai /e.fʁɛj.ʁe/ or /e.fʁɛ.ʁe/ or /e.fʁe.ʁe/ | effrayeras or effraieras /e.fʁɛj.ʁa/ or /e.fʁɛ.ʁa/ or /e.fʁe.ʁa/ | effrayera or effraiera /e.fʁɛj.ʁa/ or /e.fʁɛ.ʁa/ or /e.fʁe.ʁa/ | effrayerons or effraierons /e.fʁɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /e.fʁɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /e.fʁe.ʁɔ̃/ | effrayerez or effraierez /e.fʁɛj.ʁe/ or /e.fʁɛ.ʁe/ or /e.fʁe.ʁe/ | effrayeront or effraieront /e.fʁɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /e.fʁɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /e.fʁe.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | effrayerais or effraierais /e.fʁɛj.ʁɛ/ or /e.fʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /e.fʁe.ʁɛ/ | effrayerais or effraierais /e.fʁɛj.ʁɛ/ or /e.fʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /e.fʁe.ʁɛ/ | effrayerait or effraierait /e.fʁɛj.ʁɛ/ or /e.fʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /e.fʁe.ʁɛ/ | effrayerions or effraierions /e.fʁɛ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /e.fʁe.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /e.fʁɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /e.fʁe.ʁjɔ̃/ | effrayeriez or effraieriez /e.fʁɛ.jə.ʁje/ or /e.fʁe.jə.ʁje/ or /e.fʁɛ.ʁje/ or /e.fʁe.ʁje/ | effrayeraient or effraieraient /e.fʁɛj.ʁɛ/ or /e.fʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /e.fʁe.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 | effraye or effraie /e.fʁɛj/ or /e.fʁɛ/ | effrayes or effraies /e.fʁɛj/ or /e.fʁɛ/ | effraye or effraie /e.fʁɛj/ or /e.fʁɛ/ | effrayions /e.fʁɛj.jɔ̃/ | effrayiez /e.fʁɛj.je/ | effrayent or effraient /e.fʁɛj/ or /e.fʁɛ/ |
| imperfect2 | effrayasse /e.fʁɛ.jas/ or /e.fʁe.jas/ | effrayasses /e.fʁɛ.jas/ or /e.fʁe.jas/ | effrayât /e.fʁɛ.ja/ or /e.fʁe.ja/ | effrayassions /e.fʁɛ.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /e.fʁe.ja.sjɔ̃/ | effrayassiez /e.fʁɛ.ja.sje/ or /e.fʁe.ja.sje/ | effrayassent /e.fʁɛ.jas/ or /e.fʁe.jas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | effraye or effraie /e.fʁɛj/ or /e.fʁɛ/ | — | effrayons /e.fʁɛ.jɔ̃/ or /e.fʁe.jɔ̃/ | effrayez /e.fʁɛ.je/ or /e.fʁe.je/ | — | |
| 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
- effraie
- effroi
- effroyable
Further reading
- “effrayer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.