quêter
French
Etymology
From Old French quester, from Latin quaestāre, present active infinitive of quaestō (“to search”), from quaestus. Cognate with English quest.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kɛ.te/, /ke.te/
Audio (file)
Verb
quêter
- to search for; to look for
- to beg (for money)
Conjugation
Conjugation of quêter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive | simple | quêter | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
present participle or gerund1 | simple | quêtant /kɛ.tɑ̃/ or /ke.tɑ̃/ | |||||
compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
past participle | quêté /kɛ.te/ or /ke.te/ | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) | present | quête /kɛt/ | quêtes /kɛt/ | quête /kɛt/ | quêtons /kɛ.tɔ̃/ or /ke.tɔ̃/ | quêtez /kɛ.te/ or /ke.te/ | quêtent /kɛt/ |
imperfect | quêtais /kɛ.tɛ/ or /ke.tɛ/ | quêtais /kɛ.tɛ/ or /ke.tɛ/ | quêtait /kɛ.tɛ/ or /ke.tɛ/ | quêtions /kɛ.tjɔ̃/ or /ke.tjɔ̃/ | quêtiez /kɛ.tje/ or /ke.tje/ | quêtaient /kɛ.tɛ/ or /ke.tɛ/ | |
past historic2 | quêtai /kɛ.te/ or /ke.te/ | quêtas /kɛ.ta/ or /ke.ta/ | quêta /kɛ.ta/ or /ke.ta/ | quêtâmes /kɛ.tam/ or /ke.tam/ | quêtâtes /kɛ.tat/ or /ke.tat/ | quêtèrent /kɛ.tɛʁ/ or /ke.tɛʁ/ | |
future | quêterai /kɛ.tʁe/ or /ke.tʁe/ | quêteras /kɛ.tʁa/ or /ke.tʁa/ | quêtera /kɛ.tʁa/ or /ke.tʁa/ | quêterons /kɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /ke.tʁɔ̃/ | quêterez /kɛ.tʁe/ or /ke.tʁe/ | quêteront /kɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /ke.tʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | quêterais /kɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ke.tʁɛ/ | quêterais /kɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ke.tʁɛ/ | quêterait /kɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ke.tʁɛ/ | quêterions /kɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ke.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ | quêteriez /kɛ.tə.ʁje/ or /ke.tə.ʁje/ | quêteraient /kɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ke.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 | quête /kɛt/ | quêtes /kɛt/ | quête /kɛt/ | quêtions /kɛ.tjɔ̃/ or /ke.tjɔ̃/ | quêtiez /kɛ.tje/ or /ke.tje/ | quêtent /kɛt/ |
imperfect2 | quêtasse /kɛ.tas/ or /ke.tas/ | quêtasses /kɛ.tas/ or /ke.tas/ | quêtât /kɛ.ta/ or /ke.ta/ | quêtassions /kɛ.ta.sjɔ̃/ or /ke.ta.sjɔ̃/ | quêtassiez /kɛ.ta.sje/ or /ke.ta.sje/ | quêtassent /kɛ.tas/ or /ke.tas/ | |
(compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | quête /kɛt/ | — | quêtons /kɛ.tɔ̃/ or /ke.tɔ̃/ | quêtez /kɛ.te/ or /ke.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). |
Synonyms
- chercher (more common)
- rechercher (more common)
Further reading
- “quêter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.