acheter
French
Alternative forms
- achepter (obsolete)
Etymology
From Old French acheter, from Vulgar Latin *accaptō, *accaptāre (“to buy”). Cognate with Norman acater, Sicilian accattari, Neapolitan accattà, Corsican accattà, Ligurian acatâ. Compare English cater.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /aʃ.te/, /a.ʃə.te/
Audio (France, Paris) (file)
Verb
acheter
- to purchase; buy
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 achète rather than *il achete. Other verbs conjugated this way include lever and mener. Related but distinct conjugations include those of appeler and préférer.
Conjugation of acheter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | acheter | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | achetant /aʃ.tɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | acheté /aʃ.te/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | achète /a.ʃɛt/ | achètes /a.ʃɛt/ | achète /a.ʃɛt/ | achetons /aʃ.tɔ̃/ | achetez /aʃ.te/ | achètent /a.ʃɛt/ |
| imperfect | achetais /aʃ.tɛ/ | achetais /aʃ.tɛ/ | achetait /aʃ.tɛ/ | achetions /a.ʃə.tjɔ̃/ | achetiez /a.ʃə.tje/ | achetaient /aʃ.tɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | achetai /aʃ.te/ | achetas /aʃ.ta/ | acheta /aʃ.ta/ | achetâmes /aʃ.tam/ | achetâtes /aʃ.tat/ | achetèrent /aʃ.tɛʁ/ | |
| future | achèterai /a.ʃɛ.tʁe/ or /a.ʃe.tʁe/ | achèteras /a.ʃɛ.tʁa/ or /a.ʃe.tʁa/ | achètera /a.ʃɛ.tʁa/ or /a.ʃe.tʁa/ | achèterons /a.ʃɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /a.ʃe.tʁɔ̃/ | achèterez /a.ʃɛ.tʁe/ or /a.ʃe.tʁe/ | achèteront /a.ʃɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /a.ʃe.tʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | achèterais /a.ʃɛ.tʁɛ/ or /a.ʃe.tʁɛ/ | achèterais /a.ʃɛ.tʁɛ/ or /a.ʃe.tʁɛ/ | achèterait /a.ʃɛ.tʁɛ/ or /a.ʃe.tʁɛ/ | achèterions /a.ʃɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /a.ʃe.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ | achèteriez /a.ʃɛ.tə.ʁje/ or /a.ʃe.tə.ʁje/ | achèteraient /a.ʃɛ.tʁɛ/ or /a.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 | achète /a.ʃɛt/ | achètes /a.ʃɛt/ | achète /a.ʃɛt/ | achetions /a.ʃə.tjɔ̃/ | achetiez /a.ʃə.tje/ | achètent /a.ʃɛt/ |
| imperfect2 | achetasse /aʃ.tas/ | achetasses /aʃ.tas/ | achetât /aʃ.ta/ | achetassions /aʃ.ta.sjɔ̃/ | achetassiez /aʃ.ta.sje/ | achetassent /aʃ.tas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | achète /a.ʃɛt/ | — | achetons /aʃ.tɔ̃/ | achetez /aʃ.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
- acheter chat en poche
Related terms
- achat
Descendants
- → Esperanto: aĉeti
Further reading
- “acheter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- châtrée, racheté, rachète, trachée
Old French
Alternative forms
- achater
- acater (Old Northern French)
Etymology
From Vulgar Latin *accaptō, *accaptāre (“to buy”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /atʃəˈteːr/
Verb
acheter
- to purchase; buy
- Synonym: porchacier
- Antonym: vendre
Conjugation
This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-ts, *-tt are modified to z, t. This verb has a stressed present stem achat distinct from the unstressed stem achet. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.
Conjugation of acheter (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | acheter | avoir acheté | |||||
| gerund | en achetant | Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| present participle | achetant | ||||||
| past participle | acheté | ||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | jo | tu | il | nos | vos | il | |
| simple tenses | present | achat | achates | achate | achetons | achetez | achatent |
| imperfect | achetoie, acheteie, achetoe, acheteve | achetoies, acheteies, achetoes, acheteves | achetoit, acheteit, achetot, acheteve | achetiiens, achetiens | achetiiez, achetiez | achetoient, acheteient, achetoent, achetevent | |
| preterite | achetai | achetas | acheta | achetames | achetastes | acheterent | |
| future | acheterai | acheteras | achetera | acheterons | acheteroiz, achetereiz, acheterez | acheteront | |
| conditional | acheteroie, achetereie | acheteroies, achetereies | acheteroit, achetereit | acheteriiens, acheteriens | acheteriiez, acheteriez | acheteroient, achetereient | |
| compound tenses | present perfect | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior | Use the preterite tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que jo | que tu | qu’il | que nos | que vos | qu’il | |
| simple tenses | present | achat | achaz | achat | achetons | achetez | achatent |
| imperfect | achetasse | achetasses | achetast | achetissons, achetissiens | achetissoiz, achetissez, achetissiez | achetassent | |
| compound tenses | past | Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nos | vos | – | |
| — | achate | — | achetons | achetez | — | ||
Descendants
- French: acheter
- Walloon: atchter