guetter
French
Etymology
From Old French gaitier, guaitier, from Frankish *wahtōn, *wahtjan (“to watch, guard”), derivative of *wahta (“guard, watch”), from Proto-Germanic *wahtwō (“guard, watch”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- (“to be fresh, cheerful, awake”). Compare English wait, ultimately from the same origin through an Anglo-Norman/Old Northern French variant.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɡɛ.te/, /ɡe.te/
audio (file) - Homophones: guettai, guetté, guettée, guettées, guettés, guettez, gaieté
Verb
guetter
- (transitive) to watch (intently), to watch for, to lie in wait
- Le chat guette la souris. ― The cat lies in wait for the mouse.
- Des gendarmes le guettent. ― The Gendarmes lie in wait for him
- (transitive, figurative) to await in order to seize
- guetter une occasion ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- (transitive, figurative) to menace, to loom (to appear in a threatening form)
- La mort le guette. ― Death hangs over him.
- 1997, Bernard Fauconnier, chapter 3, in Kaïros, Grasset:
- J’avais acheté une vieille 4L dont les cardans exténués rendaient d’inquiétants sons de castagnettes et je roulais des journées entières sur des routes où la mort guettait à chaque virage.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
Conjugation
Conjugation of guetter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | guetter | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | guettant /ɡɛ.tɑ̃/ or /ɡe.tɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | guetté /ɡɛ.te/ or /ɡe.te/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | guette /ɡɛt/ | guettes /ɡɛt/ | guette /ɡɛt/ | guettons /ɡɛ.tɔ̃/ or /ɡe.tɔ̃/ | guettez /ɡɛ.te/ or /ɡe.te/ | guettent /ɡɛt/ |
| imperfect | guettais /ɡɛ.tɛ/ or /ɡe.tɛ/ | guettais /ɡɛ.tɛ/ or /ɡe.tɛ/ | guettait /ɡɛ.tɛ/ or /ɡe.tɛ/ | guettions /ɡɛ.tjɔ̃/ or /ɡe.tjɔ̃/ | guettiez /ɡɛ.tje/ or /ɡe.tje/ | guettaient /ɡɛ.tɛ/ or /ɡe.tɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | guettai /ɡɛ.te/ or /ɡe.te/ | guettas /ɡɛ.ta/ or /ɡe.ta/ | guetta /ɡɛ.ta/ or /ɡe.ta/ | guettâmes /ɡɛ.tam/ or /ɡe.tam/ | guettâtes /ɡɛ.tat/ or /ɡe.tat/ | guettèrent /ɡɛ.tɛʁ/ or /ɡe.tɛʁ/ | |
| future | guetterai /ɡɛ.tʁe/ or /ɡe.tʁe/ | guetteras /ɡɛ.tʁa/ or /ɡe.tʁa/ | guettera /ɡɛ.tʁa/ or /ɡe.tʁa/ | guetterons /ɡɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /ɡe.tʁɔ̃/ | guetterez /ɡɛ.tʁe/ or /ɡe.tʁe/ | guetteront /ɡɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /ɡe.tʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | guetterais /ɡɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ɡe.tʁɛ/ | guetterais /ɡɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ɡe.tʁɛ/ | guetterait /ɡɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ɡe.tʁɛ/ | guetterions /ɡɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɡe.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ | guetteriez /ɡɛ.tə.ʁje/ or /ɡe.tə.ʁje/ | guetteraient /ɡɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ɡe.tʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | guette /ɡɛt/ | guettes /ɡɛt/ | guette /ɡɛt/ | guettions /ɡɛ.tjɔ̃/ or /ɡe.tjɔ̃/ | guettiez /ɡɛ.tje/ or /ɡe.tje/ | guettent /ɡɛt/ |
| imperfect2 | guettasse /ɡɛ.tas/ or /ɡe.tas/ | guettasses /ɡɛ.tas/ or /ɡe.tas/ | guettât /ɡɛ.ta/ or /ɡe.ta/ | guettassions /ɡɛ.ta.sjɔ̃/ or /ɡe.ta.sjɔ̃/ | guettassiez /ɡɛ.ta.sje/ or /ɡe.ta.sje/ | guettassent /ɡɛ.tas/ or /ɡe.tas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | guette /ɡɛt/ | — | guettons /ɡɛ.tɔ̃/ or /ɡe.tɔ̃/ | guettez /ɡɛ.te/ or /ɡe.te/ | — | |
| 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
- guetteur
Related terms
- guet-apens (“ambush”)
- guet
Descendants
- Saint Dominican Creole French: gueté
Further reading
- “guetter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- “guetter” in Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française, 1872–1877.