gâter

See also: gater and 'Gater

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French gaster, from Old French gaster, guaster, which see for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡa.te/, /ɡɑ.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

gâter

1. to spoil, ruin
2. (reflexive) to go bad, go off

Conjugation

Conjugation of gâter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	gâter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	gâtant /ɡa.tɑ̃/ or /ɡɑ.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		gâté /ɡa.te/ or /ɡɑ.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	gâte /ɡat/ or /ɡɑt/	gâtes /ɡat/ or /ɡɑt/	gâte /ɡat/ or /ɡɑt/	gâtons /ɡa.tɔ̃/ or /ɡɑ.tɔ̃/	gâtez /ɡa.te/ or /ɡɑ.te/	gâtent /ɡat/ or /ɡɑt/
	imperfect	gâtais /ɡa.tɛ/ or /ɡɑ.tɛ/	gâtais /ɡa.tɛ/ or /ɡɑ.tɛ/	gâtait /ɡa.tɛ/ or /ɡɑ.tɛ/	gâtions /ɡa.tjɔ̃/ or /ɡɑ.tjɔ̃/	gâtiez /ɡa.tje/ or /ɡɑ.tje/	gâtaient /ɡa.tɛ/ or /ɡɑ.tɛ/
	past historic2	gâtai /ɡa.te/ or /ɡɑ.te/	gâtas /ɡa.ta/ or /ɡɑ.ta/	gâta /ɡa.ta/ or /ɡɑ.ta/	gâtâmes /ɡa.tam/ or /ɡɑ.tam/	gâtâtes /ɡa.tat/ or /ɡɑ.tat/	gâtèrent /ɡa.tɛʁ/ or /ɡɑ.tɛʁ/
	future	gâterai /ɡa.tʁe/ or /ɡɑ.tʁe/	gâteras /ɡa.tʁa/ or /ɡɑ.tʁa/	gâtera /ɡa.tʁa/ or /ɡɑ.tʁa/	gâterons /ɡa.tʁɔ̃/ or /ɡɑ.tʁɔ̃/	gâterez /ɡa.tʁe/ or /ɡɑ.tʁe/	gâteront /ɡa.tʁɔ̃/ or /ɡɑ.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	gâterais /ɡa.tʁɛ/ or /ɡɑ.tʁɛ/	gâterais /ɡa.tʁɛ/ or /ɡɑ.tʁɛ/	gâterait /ɡa.tʁɛ/ or /ɡɑ.tʁɛ/	gâterions /ɡa.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɡɑ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	gâteriez /ɡa.tə.ʁje/ or /ɡɑ.tə.ʁje/	gâteraient /ɡa.tʁɛ/ or /ɡɑ.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	gâte /ɡat/ or /ɡɑt/	gâtes /ɡat/ or /ɡɑt/	gâte /ɡat/ or /ɡɑt/	gâtions /ɡa.tjɔ̃/ or /ɡɑ.tjɔ̃/	gâtiez /ɡa.tje/ or /ɡɑ.tje/	gâtent /ɡat/ or /ɡɑt/
	imperfect2	gâtasse /ɡa.tas/ or /ɡɑ.tas/	gâtasses /ɡa.tas/ or /ɡɑ.tas/	gâtât /ɡa.ta/ or /ɡɑ.ta/	gâtassions /ɡa.ta.sjɔ̃/ or /ɡɑ.ta.sjɔ̃/	gâtassiez /ɡa.ta.sje/ or /ɡɑ.ta.sje/	gâtassent /ɡa.tas/ or /ɡɑ.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	gâte /ɡat/ or /ɡɑt/	—	gâtons /ɡa.tɔ̃/ or /ɡɑ.tɔ̃/	gâtez /ɡa.te/ or /ɡɑ.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: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• enfant gâté

Related terms

• gâtine

Further reading

• “gâter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• gérât, targe