hésiter
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin haesitāre.
Pronunciation
- (mute h) IPA(key): /e.zi.te/
Audio: (file)
Verb
hésiter
- to hesitate
- Il hésitait dans ses réponses.
- He hesitated in his responses.
Conjugation
Conjugation of hésiter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | hésiter | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | hésitant /e.zi.tɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | hésité /e.zi.te/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | hésite /e.zit/ |
hésites /e.zit/ |
hésite /e.zit/ |
hésitons /e.zi.tɔ̃/ |
hésitez /e.zi.te/ |
hésitent /e.zit/ |
| imperfect | hésitais /e.zi.tɛ/ |
hésitais /e.zi.tɛ/ |
hésitait /e.zi.tɛ/ |
hésitions /e.zi.tjɔ̃/ |
hésitiez /e.zi.tje/ |
hésitaient /e.zi.tɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | hésitai /e.zi.te/ |
hésitas /e.zi.ta/ |
hésita /e.zi.ta/ |
hésitâmes /e.zi.tam/ |
hésitâtes /e.zi.tat/ |
hésitèrent /e.zi.tɛʁ/ | |
| future | hésiterai /e.zi.tʁe/ |
hésiteras /e.zi.tʁa/ |
hésitera /e.zi.tʁa/ |
hésiterons /e.zi.tʁɔ̃/ |
hésiterez /e.zi.tʁe/ |
hésiteront /e.zi.tʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | hésiterais /e.zi.tʁɛ/ |
hésiterais /e.zi.tʁɛ/ |
hésiterait /e.zi.tʁɛ/ |
hésiterions /e.zi.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
hésiteriez /e.zi.tə.ʁje/ |
hésiteraient /e.zi.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 | hésite /e.zit/ |
hésites /e.zit/ |
hésite /e.zit/ |
hésitions /e.zi.tjɔ̃/ |
hésitiez /e.zi.tje/ |
hésitent /e.zit/ |
| imperfect2 | hésitasse /e.zi.tas/ |
hésitasses /e.zi.tas/ |
hésitât /e.zi.ta/ |
hésitassions /e.zi.ta.sjɔ̃/ |
hésitassiez /e.zi.ta.sje/ |
hésitassent /e.zi.tas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | hésite /e.zit/ |
— | hésitons /e.zi.tɔ̃/ |
hésitez /e.zi.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
Further reading
- “hésiter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.