répondre
French
Alternative forms
- repondre (obsolete) [17th–18th CC.]
Etymology
Inherited from Middle French respondre, from Old French respondre, from Late Latin respondere, from Latin respondēre.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʁe.pɔ̃dʁ/
Audio (Paris): (file) - Hyphenation: ré‧pondre
Verb
répondre
- to reply, to answer [with à ‘to a question’]
- Tu dois répondre aux questions que je te pose.
- You must answer the questions I ask you.
- (law) to answer for [with de]
- répondre de ses actes ― to answer for one's deeds
Conjugation
Conjugation of répondre (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | répondre | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | répondant /ʁe.pɔ̃.dɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | répondu /ʁe.pɔ̃.dy/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | réponds /ʁe.pɔ̃/ |
réponds /ʁe.pɔ̃/ |
répond /ʁe.pɔ̃/ |
répondons /ʁe.pɔ̃.dɔ̃/ |
répondez /ʁe.pɔ̃.de/ |
répondent /ʁe.pɔ̃d/ |
| imperfect | répondais /ʁe.pɔ̃.dɛ/ |
répondais /ʁe.pɔ̃.dɛ/ |
répondait /ʁe.pɔ̃.dɛ/ |
répondions /ʁe.pɔ̃.djɔ̃/ |
répondiez /ʁe.pɔ̃.dje/ |
répondaient /ʁe.pɔ̃.dɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | répondis /ʁe.pɔ̃.di/ |
répondis /ʁe.pɔ̃.di/ |
répondit /ʁe.pɔ̃.di/ |
répondîmes /ʁe.pɔ̃.dim/ |
répondîtes /ʁe.pɔ̃.dit/ |
répondirent /ʁe.pɔ̃.diʁ/ | |
| future | répondrai /ʁe.pɔ̃.dʁe/ |
répondras /ʁe.pɔ̃.dʁa/ |
répondra /ʁe.pɔ̃.dʁa/ |
répondrons /ʁe.pɔ̃.dʁɔ̃/ |
répondrez /ʁe.pɔ̃.dʁe/ |
répondront /ʁe.pɔ̃.dʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | répondrais /ʁe.pɔ̃.dʁɛ/ |
répondrais /ʁe.pɔ̃.dʁɛ/ |
répondrait /ʁe.pɔ̃.dʁɛ/ |
répondrions /ʁe.pɔ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/ |
répondriez /ʁe.pɔ̃.dʁi.je/ |
répondraient /ʁe.pɔ̃.dʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | réponde /ʁe.pɔ̃d/ |
répondes /ʁe.pɔ̃d/ |
réponde /ʁe.pɔ̃d/ |
répondions /ʁe.pɔ̃.djɔ̃/ |
répondiez /ʁe.pɔ̃.dje/ |
répondent /ʁe.pɔ̃d/ |
| imperfect2 | répondisse /ʁe.pɔ̃.dis/ |
répondisses /ʁe.pɔ̃.dis/ |
répondît /ʁe.pɔ̃.di/ |
répondissions /ʁe.pɔ̃.di.sjɔ̃/ |
répondissiez /ʁe.pɔ̃.di.sje/ |
répondissent /ʁe.pɔ̃.dis/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | réponds /ʁe.pɔ̃/ |
— | répondons /ʁe.pɔ̃.dɔ̃/ |
répondez /ʁe.pɔ̃.de/ |
— | |
| 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
Related terms
Further reading
- “répondre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.