surmener
French
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Verb
surmener
- to overwork
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 surmène rather than *il surmene. Other verbs conjugated this way include lever and mener. Related but distinct conjugations include those of appeler and préférer.
Conjugation of surmener (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive | simple | surmener | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
present participle or gerund1 | simple | surmenant /syʁ.mə.nɑ̃/ | |||||
compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
past participle | surmené /syʁ.mə.ne/ | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) | present | surmène /syʁ.mɛn/ | surmènes /syʁ.mɛn/ | surmène /syʁ.mɛn/ | surmenons /syʁ.mə.nɔ̃/ | surmenez /syʁ.mə.ne/ | surmènent /syʁ.mɛn/ |
imperfect | surmenais /syʁ.mə.nɛ/ | surmenais /syʁ.mə.nɛ/ | surmenait /syʁ.mə.nɛ/ | surmenions /syʁ.mə.njɔ̃/ | surmeniez /syʁ.mə.nje/ | surmenaient /syʁ.mə.nɛ/ | |
past historic2 | surmenai /syʁ.mə.ne/ | surmenas /syʁ.mə.na/ | surmena /syʁ.mə.na/ | surmenâmes /syʁ.mə.nam/ | surmenâtes /syʁ.mə.nat/ | surmenèrent /syʁ.mə.nɛʁ/ | |
future | surmènerai /syʁ.mɛn.ʁe/ | surmèneras /syʁ.mɛn.ʁa/ | surmènera /syʁ.mɛn.ʁa/ | surmènerons /syʁ.mɛn.ʁɔ̃/ | surmènerez /syʁ.mɛn.ʁe/ | surmèneront /syʁ.mɛn.ʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | surmènerais /syʁ.mɛn.ʁɛ/ | surmènerais /syʁ.mɛn.ʁɛ/ | surmènerait /syʁ.mɛn.ʁɛ/ | surmènerions /syʁ.mɛ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /syʁ.me.nə.ʁjɔ̃/ | surmèneriez /syʁ.mɛ.nə.ʁje/ or /syʁ.me.nə.ʁje/ | surmèneraient /syʁ.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 | surmène /syʁ.mɛn/ | surmènes /syʁ.mɛn/ | surmène /syʁ.mɛn/ | surmenions /syʁ.mə.njɔ̃/ | surmeniez /syʁ.mə.nje/ | surmènent /syʁ.mɛn/ |
imperfect2 | surmenasse /syʁ.mə.nas/ | surmenasses /syʁ.mə.nas/ | surmenât /syʁ.mə.na/ | surmenassions /syʁ.mə.na.sjɔ̃/ | surmenassiez /syʁ.mə.na.sje/ | surmenassent /syʁ.mə.nas/ | |
(compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | surmène /syʁ.mɛn/ | — | surmenons /syʁ.mə.nɔ̃/ | surmenez /syʁ.mə.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). |
Further reading
- “surmener”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.