quêter
French
Etymology
Inherited from Old French quester, from Latin quaestāre (“to search”), from quaestus. Cognate with English quest.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kɛ.te/ ~ /ke.te/
Audio: (file)
Verb
quêter
Conjugation
Conjugation of quêter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | quêter | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | quêtant /kɛ.tɑ̃/ or /ke.tɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | quêté /kɛ.te/ or /ke.te/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | quête /kɛt/ |
quêtes /kɛt/ |
quête /kɛt/ |
quêtons /kɛ.tɔ̃/ or /ke.tɔ̃/ |
quêtez /kɛ.te/ or /ke.te/ |
quêtent /kɛt/ |
| imperfect | quêtais /kɛ.tɛ/ or /ke.tɛ/ |
quêtais /kɛ.tɛ/ or /ke.tɛ/ |
quêtait /kɛ.tɛ/ or /ke.tɛ/ |
quêtions /kɛ.tjɔ̃/ or /ke.tjɔ̃/ |
quêtiez /kɛ.tje/ or /ke.tje/ |
quêtaient /kɛ.tɛ/ or /ke.tɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | quêtai /kɛ.te/ or /ke.te/ |
quêtas /kɛ.ta/ or /ke.ta/ |
quêta /kɛ.ta/ or /ke.ta/ |
quêtâmes /kɛ.tam/ or /ke.tam/ |
quêtâtes /kɛ.tat/ or /ke.tat/ |
quêtèrent /kɛ.tɛʁ/ or /ke.tɛʁ/ | |
| future | quêterai /kɛ.tʁe/ or /ke.tʁe/ |
quêteras /kɛ.tʁa/ or /ke.tʁa/ |
quêtera /kɛ.tʁa/ or /ke.tʁa/ |
quêterons /kɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /ke.tʁɔ̃/ |
quêterez /kɛ.tʁe/ or /ke.tʁe/ |
quêteront /kɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /ke.tʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | quêterais /kɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ke.tʁɛ/ |
quêterais /kɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ke.tʁɛ/ |
quêterait /kɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ke.tʁɛ/ |
quêterions /kɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ke.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
quêteriez /kɛ.tə.ʁje/ or /ke.tə.ʁje/ |
quêteraient /kɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ke.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 | quête /kɛt/ |
quêtes /kɛt/ |
quête /kɛt/ |
quêtions /kɛ.tjɔ̃/ or /ke.tjɔ̃/ |
quêtiez /kɛ.tje/ or /ke.tje/ |
quêtent /kɛt/ |
| imperfect2 | quêtasse /kɛ.tas/ or /ke.tas/ |
quêtasses /kɛ.tas/ or /ke.tas/ |
quêtât /kɛ.ta/ or /ke.ta/ |
quêtassions /kɛ.ta.sjɔ̃/ or /ke.ta.sjɔ̃/ |
quêtassiez /kɛ.ta.sje/ or /ke.ta.sje/ |
quêtassent /kɛ.tas/ or /ke.tas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | quête /kɛt/ |
— | quêtons /kɛ.tɔ̃/ or /ke.tɔ̃/ |
quêtez /kɛ.te/ or /ke.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). | |||||||
Synonyms
- chercher (more common)
- rechercher (more common)
Further reading
- “quêter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.