mêler
See also: meler
French
Etymology
From Middle French mesler, mescler, from Old French mesler, meller, *mescler (“to mingle, mix up”), from Vulgar Latin *misc(u)lāre, present active infinitive of *misc(u)lō, from Latin misceō. Compare Italian mischiare, Occitan and Catalan mesclar, Spanish mezclar. More at mix.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɛ.le/, /me.le/
Audio (file)
Verb
mêler
- (transitive) to mix
- 1869, Paul Verlaine, Clair de lune [Moonlight]:
- Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune, / Au calme clair de lune triste et beau, / Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres / Et sangloter d'extase les jets d'eau, / Les grands jets d'eau sveltes parmi les marbres.
- And their song blends with the moonlight, / With the sad and beautiful moonlight, / Which sets the birds in the trees dreaming, / And makes the fountains sob with ecstasy, / The tall slim water streams among the marble statues.
-
- (reflexive, followed by the preposition de) to meddle in, to interfere in, to get mixed up in
- (card games) to shuffle
Usage notes
- Mêler may take a direct object that indicates multiple things being mixed together; or, it may take a direct object that indicates a single thing being mixed into another thing, as well as an object with a preposition, such as avec (“with”), à (“to”), dans (“in, into”), parmi (“among”), de (“of”), that indicates the thing it is being mixed into.
Conjugation
Conjugation of mêler (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | mêler | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | mêlant /mɛ.lɑ̃/ or /me.lɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | mêlé /mɛ.le/ or /me.le/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | mêle /mɛl/ | mêles /mɛl/ | mêle /mɛl/ | mêlons /mɛ.lɔ̃/ or /me.lɔ̃/ | mêlez /mɛ.le/ or /me.le/ | mêlent /mɛl/ |
| imperfect | mêlais /mɛ.lɛ/ or /me.lɛ/ | mêlais /mɛ.lɛ/ or /me.lɛ/ | mêlait /mɛ.lɛ/ or /me.lɛ/ | mêlions /mɛ.ljɔ̃/ or /me.ljɔ̃/ | mêliez /mɛ.lje/ or /me.lje/ | mêlaient /mɛ.lɛ/ or /me.lɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | mêlai /mɛ.le/ or /me.le/ | mêlas /mɛ.la/ or /me.la/ | mêla /mɛ.la/ or /me.la/ | mêlâmes /mɛ.lam/ or /me.lam/ | mêlâtes /mɛ.lat/ or /me.lat/ | mêlèrent /mɛ.lɛʁ/ or /me.lɛʁ/ | |
| future | mêlerai /mɛl.ʁe/ | mêleras /mɛl.ʁa/ | mêlera /mɛl.ʁa/ | mêlerons /mɛl.ʁɔ̃/ | mêlerez /mɛl.ʁe/ | mêleront /mɛl.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | mêlerais /mɛl.ʁɛ/ | mêlerais /mɛl.ʁɛ/ | mêlerait /mɛl.ʁɛ/ | mêlerions /mɛ.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /me.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ | mêleriez /mɛ.lə.ʁje/ or /me.lə.ʁje/ | mêleraient /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 | mêle /mɛl/ | mêles /mɛl/ | mêle /mɛl/ | mêlions /mɛ.ljɔ̃/ or /me.ljɔ̃/ | mêliez /mɛ.lje/ or /me.lje/ | mêlent /mɛl/ |
| imperfect2 | mêlasse /mɛ.las/ or /me.las/ | mêlasses /mɛ.las/ or /me.las/ | mêlât /mɛ.la/ or /me.la/ | mêlassions /mɛ.la.sjɔ̃/ or /me.la.sjɔ̃/ | mêlassiez /mɛ.la.sje/ or /me.la.sje/ | mêlassent /mɛ.las/ or /me.las/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | mêle /mɛl/ | — | mêlons /mɛ.lɔ̃/ or /me.lɔ̃/ | mêlez /mɛ.le/ or /me.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). | |||||||
Synonyms
- mélanger
Derived terms
- de quoi je me mêle
- se mêler de ses affaires
- se mêler de ses oignons
Derived terms
- mélange
- mêlée
Related terms
- métis
References
- “mêler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Further reading
- “mêler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- merle, Merle
Norman
Etymology
From Old French mesler, *mescler (“to mingle, mix up”), from Vulgar Latin *misc(u)lō, misc(u)lāre, from Latin misceō.
Pronunciation
Audio (Jersey) (file)
Verb
mêler (gerund mêl'lie)
- (Jersey) to mix