tempérer
French
Etymology
From Old French temprer; the é was added to make it more closely match the Latin spelling temperō, temperāre. This form may also be seen as a learned borrowing from the Latin word (according to the TLFi), and used in the sense of "temper", "sooth" as opposed to the sense relating to soaking or drenching (cf. the popularly evolved form tremper).
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Verb
tempérer
- to temper, to soothe, to assuage
Conjugation
This verb is conjugated like céder. It is a regular -er verb, except that its last stem vowel alternates between /e/ (written 'é') and /ɛ/ (written 'è'), with the latter being used before mute 'e'.One special case is the future stem, used in the future and the conditional. Before 1990, the future stem of such verbs was written tempérer-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written tempèrer-, reflecting the now common pronunciation /ɛ/, thereby making this distinction consistent throughout the conjugation (and also matching in this regard the conjugations of verbs like lever and jeter). Both spellings are in use today, and both are therefore given here.
| infinitive | simple | tempérer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | tempérant /tɑ̃.pe.ʁɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | tempéré /tɑ̃.pe.ʁe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | tempère /tɑ̃.pɛʁ/ | tempères /tɑ̃.pɛʁ/ | tempère /tɑ̃.pɛʁ/ | tempérons /tɑ̃.pe.ʁɔ̃/ | tempérez /tɑ̃.pe.ʁe/ | tempèrent /tɑ̃.pɛʁ/ |
| imperfect | tempérais /tɑ̃.pe.ʁɛ/ | tempérais /tɑ̃.pe.ʁɛ/ | tempérait /tɑ̃.pe.ʁɛ/ | tempérions /tɑ̃.pe.ʁjɔ̃/ | tempériez /tɑ̃.pe.ʁje/ | tempéraient /tɑ̃.pe.ʁɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | tempérai /tɑ̃.pe.ʁe/ | tempéras /tɑ̃.pe.ʁa/ | tempéra /tɑ̃.pe.ʁa/ | tempérâmes /tɑ̃.pe.ʁam/ | tempérâtes /tɑ̃.pe.ʁat/ | tempérèrent /tɑ̃.pe.ʁɛʁ/ | |
| future | tempèrerai or tempérerai /tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁe/ or /tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁe/ | tempèreras or tempéreras /tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁa/ or /tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁa/ | tempèrera or tempérera /tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁa/ or /tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁa/ | tempèrerons or tempérerons /tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ | tempèrerez or tempérerez /tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁe/ or /tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁe/ | tempèreront or tempéreront /tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | tempèrerais or tempérerais /tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁɛ/ | tempèrerais or tempérerais /tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁɛ/ | tempèrerait or tempérerait /tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁɛ/ | tempèrerions or tempérerions /tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ | tempèreriez or tempéreriez /tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁje/ or /tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.ʁje/ | tempèreraient or tempéreraient /tɑ̃.pɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /tɑ̃.pe.ʁə.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 | tempère /tɑ̃.pɛʁ/ | tempères /tɑ̃.pɛʁ/ | tempère /tɑ̃.pɛʁ/ | tempérions /tɑ̃.pe.ʁjɔ̃/ | tempériez /tɑ̃.pe.ʁje/ | tempèrent /tɑ̃.pɛʁ/ |
| imperfect2 | tempérasse /tɑ̃.pe.ʁas/ | tempérasses /tɑ̃.pe.ʁas/ | tempérât /tɑ̃.pe.ʁa/ | tempérassions /tɑ̃.pe.ʁa.sjɔ̃/ | tempérassiez /tɑ̃.pe.ʁa.sje/ | tempérassent /tɑ̃.pe.ʁas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | tempère /tɑ̃.pɛʁ/ | — | tempérons /tɑ̃.pe.ʁɔ̃/ | tempérez /tɑ̃.pe.ʁe/ | — | |
| 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
- tempérament
- tempérance
Further reading
- “tempérer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- empêtrer