tâter
See also: tater and Täter
French
Etymology
From Old French taster, from Vulgar Latin *tastō, *tastāre, contraction of *taxitō, frequentative of Late Latin taxō (“touch repeatedly”), from Latin taxus.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ta.te/, /tɑ.te/
Audio (file)
Verb
tâter
- to feel (touch lightly, to sense consistency or temperature)
- to get a feel for
Conjugation
Conjugation of tâter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive | simple | tâter | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
present participle or gerund1 | simple | tâtant /ta.tɑ̃/ or /tɑ.tɑ̃/ | |||||
compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
past participle | tâté /ta.te/ or /tɑ.te/ | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) | present | tâte /tat/ or /tɑt/ | tâtes /tat/ or /tɑt/ | tâte /tat/ or /tɑt/ | tâtons /ta.tɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔ̃/ | tâtez /ta.te/ or /tɑ.te/ | tâtent /tat/ or /tɑt/ |
imperfect | tâtais /ta.tɛ/ or /tɑ.tɛ/ | tâtais /ta.tɛ/ or /tɑ.tɛ/ | tâtait /ta.tɛ/ or /tɑ.tɛ/ | tâtions /ta.tjɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tjɔ̃/ | tâtiez /ta.tje/ or /tɑ.tje/ | tâtaient /ta.tɛ/ or /tɑ.tɛ/ | |
past historic2 | tâtai /ta.te/ or /tɑ.te/ | tâtas /ta.ta/ or /tɑ.ta/ | tâta /ta.ta/ or /tɑ.ta/ | tâtâmes /ta.tam/ or /tɑ.tam/ | tâtâtes /ta.tat/ or /tɑ.tat/ | tâtèrent /ta.tɛʁ/ or /tɑ.tɛʁ/ | |
future | tâterai /ta.tʁe/ or /tɑ.tʁe/ | tâteras /ta.tʁa/ or /tɑ.tʁa/ | tâtera /ta.tʁa/ or /tɑ.tʁa/ | tâterons /ta.tʁɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tʁɔ̃/ | tâterez /ta.tʁe/ or /tɑ.tʁe/ | tâteront /ta.tʁɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | tâterais /ta.tʁɛ/ or /tɑ.tʁɛ/ | tâterais /ta.tʁɛ/ or /tɑ.tʁɛ/ | tâterait /ta.tʁɛ/ or /tɑ.tʁɛ/ | tâterions /ta.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ | tâteriez /ta.tə.ʁje/ or /tɑ.tə.ʁje/ | tâteraient /ta.tʁɛ/ or /tɑ.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 | tâte /tat/ or /tɑt/ | tâtes /tat/ or /tɑt/ | tâte /tat/ or /tɑt/ | tâtions /ta.tjɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tjɔ̃/ | tâtiez /ta.tje/ or /tɑ.tje/ | tâtent /tat/ or /tɑt/ |
imperfect2 | tâtasse /ta.tas/ or /tɑ.tas/ | tâtasses /ta.tas/ or /tɑ.tas/ | tâtât /ta.ta/ or /tɑ.ta/ | tâtassions /ta.ta.sjɔ̃/ or /tɑ.ta.sjɔ̃/ | tâtassiez /ta.ta.sje/ or /tɑ.ta.sje/ | tâtassent /ta.tas/ or /tɑ.tas/ | |
(compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | tâte /tat/ or /tɑt/ | — | tâtons /ta.tɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔ̃/ | tâtez /ta.te/ or /tɑ.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). |
Derived terms
- à tâter
- tâter le terrain
Further reading
- “tâter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- tarte