racheter
French
Etymology
From Middle French racheter, from Old French rachater, equivalent to re- (“re-”) + acheter (“to buy”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʁaʃ.te/
Audio (file)
Verb
racheter (transitive)
- to buy back
- to buy out, buy off
- to ransom
- (religion) to redeem (from sin)
- (reflexive) to make amends
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 rachète rather than *il rachete. Other verbs conjugated this way include lever and mener. Related but distinct conjugations include those of appeler and préférer.
Conjugation of racheter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | racheter | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | rachetant /ʁaʃ.tɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | racheté /ʁaʃ.te/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | rachète /ʁa.ʃɛt/ | rachètes /ʁa.ʃɛt/ | rachète /ʁa.ʃɛt/ | rachetons /ʁaʃ.tɔ̃/ | rachetez /ʁaʃ.te/ | rachètent /ʁa.ʃɛt/ |
| imperfect | rachetais /ʁaʃ.tɛ/ | rachetais /ʁaʃ.tɛ/ | rachetait /ʁaʃ.tɛ/ | rachetions /ʁa.ʃə.tjɔ̃/ | rachetiez /ʁa.ʃə.tje/ | rachetaient /ʁaʃ.tɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | rachetai /ʁaʃ.te/ | rachetas /ʁaʃ.ta/ | racheta /ʁaʃ.ta/ | rachetâmes /ʁaʃ.tam/ | rachetâtes /ʁaʃ.tat/ | rachetèrent /ʁaʃ.tɛʁ/ | |
| future | rachèterai /ʁa.ʃɛ.tʁe/ or /ʁa.ʃe.tʁe/ | rachèteras /ʁa.ʃɛ.tʁa/ or /ʁa.ʃe.tʁa/ | rachètera /ʁa.ʃɛ.tʁa/ or /ʁa.ʃe.tʁa/ | rachèterons /ʁa.ʃɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /ʁa.ʃe.tʁɔ̃/ | rachèterez /ʁa.ʃɛ.tʁe/ or /ʁa.ʃe.tʁe/ | rachèteront /ʁa.ʃɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /ʁa.ʃe.tʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | rachèterais /ʁa.ʃɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ʁa.ʃe.tʁɛ/ | rachèterais /ʁa.ʃɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ʁa.ʃe.tʁɛ/ | rachèterait /ʁa.ʃɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ʁa.ʃe.tʁɛ/ | rachèterions /ʁa.ʃɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ʁa.ʃe.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ | rachèteriez /ʁa.ʃɛ.tə.ʁje/ or /ʁa.ʃe.tə.ʁje/ | rachèteraient /ʁa.ʃɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ʁa.ʃe.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 | rachète /ʁa.ʃɛt/ | rachètes /ʁa.ʃɛt/ | rachète /ʁa.ʃɛt/ | rachetions /ʁa.ʃə.tjɔ̃/ | rachetiez /ʁa.ʃə.tje/ | rachètent /ʁa.ʃɛt/ |
| imperfect2 | rachetasse /ʁaʃ.tas/ | rachetasses /ʁaʃ.tas/ | rachetât /ʁaʃ.ta/ | rachetassions /ʁaʃ.ta.sjɔ̃/ | rachetassiez /ʁaʃ.ta.sje/ | rachetassent /ʁaʃ.tas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | rachète /ʁa.ʃɛt/ | — | rachetons /ʁaʃ.tɔ̃/ | rachetez /ʁaʃ.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). | |||||||
Related terms
- rachat
- rachetable
- racheteur
Further reading
- “racheter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.