surprendre
French
Etymology
From Middle French surprendre, from Old French sorprendre; equivalent to sur- + prendre. In Old French sorprendre (“to overtake”) (formed from sor- (“over”); cf. modern French sur-) was distinguished from sousprendre (“to surprise, catch unaware (from beneath)”) (formed from sous- (“under”)); the two verbs later became one over time.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /syʁ.pʁɑ̃dʁ/
audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɑ̃dr
Verb
surprendre
- to surprise
- Plus rien ne me surprend. ― Nothing surprises me anymore.
- Synonym: étonner
- to catch out
Conjugation
This verb is conjugated on the model of prendre. That means it is quite irregular, with the following patterns:
- In the infinitive, in the singular forms of the present indicative, and in the future and the conditional, it is conjugated like rendre, perdre, etc. (sometimes called the regular -re verbs).
- In the plural forms of the present indicative and imperative, in the imperfect indicative, in the present subjunctive, and in the present participle, it is conjugated like appeler or jeter, using the stem surprenn- before mute 'e' and the stem surpren- elsewhere.
- In the past participle, and in the past historic and the imperfect subjunctive, its conjugation resembles that of mettre.
Conjugation of surprendre (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | surprendre | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | surprenant /syʁ.pʁə.nɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | surpris /syʁ.pʁi/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | surprends /syʁ.pʁɑ̃/ | surprends /syʁ.pʁɑ̃/ | surprend /syʁ.pʁɑ̃/ | surprenons /syʁ.pʁə.nɔ̃/ | surprenez /syʁ.pʁə.ne/ | surprennent /syʁ.pʁɛn/ |
| imperfect | surprenais /syʁ.pʁə.nɛ/ | surprenais /syʁ.pʁə.nɛ/ | surprenait /syʁ.pʁə.nɛ/ | surprenions /syʁ.pʁə.njɔ̃/ | surpreniez /syʁ.pʁə.nje/ | surprenaient /syʁ.pʁə.nɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | surpris /syʁ.pʁi/ | surpris /syʁ.pʁi/ | surprit /syʁ.pʁi/ | surprîmes /syʁ.pʁim/ | surprîtes /syʁ.pʁit/ | surprirent /syʁ.pʁiʁ/ | |
| future | surprendrai /syʁ.pʁɑ̃.dʁe/ | surprendras /syʁ.pʁɑ̃.dʁa/ | surprendra /syʁ.pʁɑ̃.dʁa/ | surprendrons /syʁ.pʁɑ̃.dʁɔ̃/ | surprendrez /syʁ.pʁɑ̃.dʁe/ | surprendront /syʁ.pʁɑ̃.dʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | surprendrais /syʁ.pʁɑ̃.dʁɛ/ | surprendrais /syʁ.pʁɑ̃.dʁɛ/ | surprendrait /syʁ.pʁɑ̃.dʁɛ/ | surprendrions /syʁ.pʁɑ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/ | surprendriez /syʁ.pʁɑ̃.dʁi.je/ | surprendraient /syʁ.pʁɑ̃.dʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | surprenne /syʁ.pʁɛn/ | surprennes /syʁ.pʁɛn/ | surprenne /syʁ.pʁɛn/ | surprenions /syʁ.pʁə.njɔ̃/ | surpreniez /syʁ.pʁə.nje/ | surprennent /syʁ.pʁɛn/ |
| imperfect2 | surprisse /syʁ.pʁis/ | surprisses /syʁ.pʁis/ | surprît /syʁ.pʁi/ | surprissions /syʁ.pʁi.sjɔ̃/ | surprissiez /syʁ.pʁi.sje/ | surprissent /syʁ.pʁis/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | surprends /syʁ.pʁɑ̃/ | — | surprenons /syʁ.pʁə.nɔ̃/ | surprenez /syʁ.pʁə.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). | |||||||
Related terms
- surpris
- surprise
Further reading
- “surprendre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle French
Etymology
From Old French sorprendre, sousprendre.
Verb
surprendre
- to surprise
- to take (something) over; to seize
- 1560, Jean Longis, Robert le Mangnier, Le Premier livre d'Amadis de Gaule, page CCXXVII
- Ne voyez vous comme il a traité ceux du chasteau qu'il a surprins ?
- Don't you see how he treat those from the castle he seized?
- Ne voyez vous comme il a traité ceux du chasteau qu'il a surprins ?
- 1560, Jean Longis, Robert le Mangnier, Le Premier livre d'Amadis de Gaule, page CCXXVII
Related terms
- surprins (adjective)
- prendre
Descendants
- English: surprise (from past participle)
- French: surprendre