promener
French
Etymology
From an alteration of Middle French pourmener, Old French pourmener, pormener (based on numerous verbs beginning with the prefix pro-), itself from pour- and mener; alternatively and less likely corresponds to a Vulgar Latin *prominare (“to drive forward”), from prō (“forward”) + mino (“I drive”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pʁɔm.ne/
audio (file)
Verb
promener
- (reflexive) to walk (leisurely), to go for a walk, to stroll
- 1869, Charles Beaudelaire, "Perte d'auréole", Petits Poëmes en prose; translated 2009 by Keith Waldrop:
- Je puis maintenant me promener incognito, faire des actions basses, et me livrer à la crapule, comme les simples mortels
- Now I can stroll about incognito, do mean things, launch into debauches, like ordinary mortals.
- 1962, Françoise Hardy
- Tous les garçons et les filles de mon âge se promènent dans la rue deux par deux.
- All the boys and girls of my age walk down the street in pairs.
- 1869, Charles Beaudelaire, "Perte d'auréole", Petits Poëmes en prose; translated 2009 by Keith Waldrop:
- (transitive) to walk out (an animal)
- (transitive) to carry around, often with the implication of showing off
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 promène rather than *il promene. Other verbs conjugated this way include lever and mener. Related but distinct conjugations include those of appeler and préférer.
Conjugation of promener (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | promener | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | promenant /pʁɔm.nɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | promené /pʁɔm.ne/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | promène /pʁɔ.mɛn/ | promènes /pʁɔ.mɛn/ | promène /pʁɔ.mɛn/ | promenons /pʁɔm.nɔ̃/ | promenez /pʁɔm.ne/ | promènent /pʁɔ.mɛn/ |
| imperfect | promenais /pʁɔm.nɛ/ | promenais /pʁɔm.nɛ/ | promenait /pʁɔm.nɛ/ | promenions /pʁɔ.mə.njɔ̃/ | promeniez /pʁɔ.mə.nje/ | promenaient /pʁɔm.nɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | promenai /pʁɔm.ne/ | promenas /pʁɔm.na/ | promena /pʁɔm.na/ | promenâmes /pʁɔm.nam/ | promenâtes /pʁɔm.nat/ | promenèrent /pʁɔm.nɛʁ/ | |
| future | promènerai /pʁɔ.mɛn.ʁe/ | promèneras /pʁɔ.mɛn.ʁa/ | promènera /pʁɔ.mɛn.ʁa/ | promènerons /pʁɔ.mɛn.ʁɔ̃/ | promènerez /pʁɔ.mɛn.ʁe/ | promèneront /pʁɔ.mɛn.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | promènerais /pʁɔ.mɛn.ʁɛ/ | promènerais /pʁɔ.mɛn.ʁɛ/ | promènerait /pʁɔ.mɛn.ʁɛ/ | promènerions /pʁɔ.mɛ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /pʁɔ.me.nə.ʁjɔ̃/ | promèneriez /pʁɔ.mɛ.nə.ʁje/ or /pʁɔ.me.nə.ʁje/ | promèneraient /pʁɔ.mɛn.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 | promène /pʁɔ.mɛn/ | promènes /pʁɔ.mɛn/ | promène /pʁɔ.mɛn/ | promenions /pʁɔ.mə.njɔ̃/ | promeniez /pʁɔ.mə.nje/ | promènent /pʁɔ.mɛn/ |
| imperfect2 | promenasse /pʁɔm.nas/ | promenasses /pʁɔm.nas/ | promenât /pʁɔm.na/ | promenassions /pʁɔm.na.sjɔ̃/ | promenassiez /pʁɔm.na.sje/ | promenassent /pʁɔm.nas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | promène /pʁɔ.mɛn/ | — | promenons /pʁɔm.nɔ̃/ | promenez /pʁɔm.ne/ | — | |
| 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
- envoyer promener
Related terms
- promenade
See also
- aller
- border
- côtoyer
- courir
- longer
- marcher
Further reading
- “promener”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.