grommeler
French
Etymology
From Middle French grommeler, from Old French grumeler (“to murmur, grumble”), from Middle Dutch grommelen (“to murmur, mutter, grunt”), frequentative of Middle Dutch grommen, related to Low German grummeln (“to grumble”), German grummeln (“to grumble”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɡʁɔm.le/
Audio (file)
Verb
grommeler
- (colloquial) to grumble, mutter
- Synonym: murmurer
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 grommèle rather than *il grommele. Other verbs conjugated this way include lever and mener. Related but distinct conjugations include those of appeler and préférer.
| infinitive | simple | grommeler | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | grommelant /ɡʁɔm.lɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | grommelé /ɡʁɔm.le/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | grommèle /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/ | grommèles /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/ | grommèle /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/ | grommelons /ɡʁɔm.lɔ̃/ | grommelez /ɡʁɔm.le/ | grommèlent /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/ |
| imperfect | grommelais /ɡʁɔm.lɛ/ | grommelais /ɡʁɔm.lɛ/ | grommelait /ɡʁɔm.lɛ/ | grommelions /ɡʁɔ.mə.ljɔ̃/ | grommeliez /ɡʁɔ.mə.lje/ | grommelaient /ɡʁɔm.lɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | grommelai /ɡʁɔm.le/ | grommelas /ɡʁɔm.la/ | grommela /ɡʁɔm.la/ | grommelâmes /ɡʁɔm.lam/ | grommelâtes /ɡʁɔm.lat/ | grommelèrent /ɡʁɔm.lɛʁ/ | |
| future | grommèlerai /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁe/ | grommèleras /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁa/ | grommèlera /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁa/ | grommèlerons /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁɔ̃/ | grommèlerez /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁe/ | grommèleront /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | grommèlerais /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁɛ/ | grommèlerais /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁɛ/ | grommèlerait /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.ʁɛ/ | grommèlerions /ɡʁɔ.mɛ.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɡʁɔ.me.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ | grommèleriez /ɡʁɔ.mɛ.lə.ʁje/ or /ɡʁɔ.me.lə.ʁje/ | grommèleraient /ɡʁɔ.mɛl.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 | grommèle /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/ | grommèles /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/ | grommèle /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/ | grommelions /ɡʁɔ.mə.ljɔ̃/ | grommeliez /ɡʁɔ.mə.lje/ | grommèlent /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/ |
| imperfect2 | grommelasse /ɡʁɔm.las/ | grommelasses /ɡʁɔm.las/ | grommelât /ɡʁɔm.la/ | grommelassions /ɡʁɔm.la.sjɔ̃/ | grommelassiez /ɡʁɔm.la.sje/ | grommelassent /ɡʁɔm.las/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | grommèle /ɡʁɔ.mɛl/ | — | grommelons /ɡʁɔm.lɔ̃/ | grommelez /ɡʁɔm.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). | |||||||
Derived terms
- grommellement
Further reading
- “grommeler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.