exagérer
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin exaggerāre, present active infinitive of exaggerō (“exaggerate, amplify”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁe/
Audio (Paris) (file)
Verb
exagérer
- to exaggerate
- Synonym: (Quebec) charier
- to go too far
- Je n'ai rien dit quand c'était seulement un peu de jalousie, mais là, tu exagères vraiment.
- I didn't say anything when it was just a bit of jealousy, but now you're really going too far.
Conjugation
This verb is conjugated like céder. It is a regular -er verb, except that its last stem vowel alternates between /e/ (written 'é') and /ɛ/ (written 'è'), with the latter being used before mute 'e'.One special case is the future stem, used in the future and the conditional. Before 1990, the future stem of such verbs was written exagérer-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written exagèrer-, reflecting the now common pronunciation /ɛ/, thereby making this distinction consistent throughout the conjugation (and also matching in this regard the conjugations of verbs like lever and jeter). Both spellings are in use today, and both are therefore given here.
| infinitive | simple | exagérer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | exagérant /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | exagéré /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | exagère /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/ | exagères /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/ | exagère /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/ | exagérons /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁɔ̃/ | exagérez /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁe/ | exagèrent /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/ |
| imperfect | exagérais /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁɛ/ | exagérais /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁɛ/ | exagérait /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁɛ/ | exagérions /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁjɔ̃/ | exagériez /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁje/ | exagéraient /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | exagérai /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁe/ | exagéras /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁa/ | exagéra /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁa/ | exagérâmes /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁam/ | exagérâtes /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁat/ | exagérèrent /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁɛʁ/ | |
| future | exagèrerai or exagérerai /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁe/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁe/ | exagèreras or exagéreras /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁa/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁa/ | exagèrera or exagérera /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁa/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁa/ | exagèrerons or exagérerons /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ | exagèrerez or exagérerez /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁe/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁe/ | exagèreront or exagéreront /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | exagèrerais or exagérerais /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁɛ/ | exagèrerais or exagérerais /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁɛ/ | exagèrerait or exagérerait /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁɛ/ | exagèrerions or exagérerions /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ | exagèreriez or exagéreriez /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁje/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁje/ | exagèreraient or exagéreraient /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.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 | exagère /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/ | exagères /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/ | exagère /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/ | exagérions /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁjɔ̃/ | exagériez /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁje/ | exagèrent /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/ |
| imperfect2 | exagérasse /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁas/ | exagérasses /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁas/ | exagérât /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁa/ | exagérassions /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁa.sjɔ̃/ | exagérassiez /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁa.sje/ | exagérassent /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | exagère /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/ | — | exagérons /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁɔ̃/ | exagérez /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁe/ | — | |
| 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
- exagération
Further reading
- “exagérer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.