soustraire

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French sustraire, borrowed from Latin subtrahere (with conjugation modeled on traire), and altered based on influence from words like souscrire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sus.tʁɛʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

soustraire

1. to subtract (to remove or reduce)
2. (mathematics) to subtract
3. (reflexive) to avoid, to escape (from)

   se soustraire à ses obligations ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

4. to preserve, protect from; free from

Conjugation

This verb traditionally has no past historic or imperfect subjunctive. They would be formed on a -soustray- root: *je soustrayis, *que nous soustrayissions etc. Forms using the 'a' endings of verbs in -er are now used when there is an unavoidable need to use these forms. The root -soustrais- was used instead of -soustray- in the 18th century, and remains in Swiss and Savoy dialects.

Conjugation of soustraire (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	soustraire
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	soustrayant /sus.tʁɛ.jɑ̃/ or /sus.tʁe.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		soustrait /sus.tʁɛ/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	soustrais /sus.tʁɛ/	soustrais /sus.tʁɛ/	soustrait /sus.tʁɛ/	soustrayons /sus.tʁɛ.jɔ̃/ or /sus.tʁe.jɔ̃/	soustrayez /sus.tʁɛ.je/ or /sus.tʁe.je/	soustraient /sus.tʁɛ/
	imperfect	soustrayais /sus.tʁɛ.jɛ/ or /sus.tʁe.jɛ/	soustrayais /sus.tʁɛ.jɛ/ or /sus.tʁe.jɛ/	soustrayait /sus.tʁɛ.jɛ/ or /sus.tʁe.jɛ/	soustrayions /sus.tʁɛj.jɔ̃/	soustrayiez /sus.tʁɛj.je/	soustrayaient /sus.tʁɛ.jɛ/ or /sus.tʁe.jɛ/
	past historic2	soustrayai /sus.tʁɛe/	soustrayas /sus.tʁɛa/	soustraya /sus.tʁɛa/	soustrayâmes /sus.tʁɛam/	soustrayâtes /sus.tʁɛat/	soustrayèrent /sus.tʁɛɛʁ/
	future	soustrairai /sus.tʁɛ.ʁe/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁe/	soustrairas /sus.tʁɛ.ʁa/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁa/	soustraira /sus.tʁɛ.ʁa/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁa/	soustrairons /sus.tʁɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁɔ̃/	soustrairez /sus.tʁɛ.ʁe/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁe/	soustrairont /sus.tʁɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	soustrairais /sus.tʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁɛ/	soustrairais /sus.tʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁɛ/	soustrairait /sus.tʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁɛ/	soustrairions /sus.tʁɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁjɔ̃/	soustrairiez /sus.tʁɛ.ʁje/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁje/	soustrairaient /sus.tʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁɛ/
(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	soustraie /sus.tʁɛ/	soustraies /sus.tʁɛ/	soustraie /sus.tʁɛ/	soustrayions /sus.tʁɛj.jɔ̃/	soustrayiez /sus.tʁɛj.je/	soustraient /sus.tʁɛ/
	imperfect2	soustrayasse /sus.tʁɛas/	soustrayasses /sus.tʁɛas/	soustrayât /sus.tʁɛa/	soustrayassions /sus.tʁɛa.sjɔ̃/	soustrayassiez /sus.tʁɛa.sje/	soustrayassent /sus.tʁɛas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	soustrais /sus.tʁɛ/	—	soustrayons /sus.tʁɛ.jɔ̃/ or /sus.tʁe.jɔ̃/	soustrayez /sus.tʁɛ.je/ or /sus.tʁe.je/	—
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).

This verb traditionally has no past historic or imperfect subjunctive. They would be formed on a -soustray- root: *je soustrayis, *que nous soustrayissions etc. Forms using the 'a' endings of verbs in -er are now used when there is an unavoidable need to use these forms. The root -soustrais- was used instead of -soustray- in the 18th century, and remains in Swiss and Savoy dialects.

Conjugation of se soustraire (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	se soustraire
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	se soustrayant /sə sus.tʁɛ.jɑ̃/ or /sə sus.tʁe.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		soustrait /sus.tʁɛ/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	me soustrais /mə sus.tʁɛ/	te soustrais /tə sus.tʁɛ/	se soustrait /sə sus.tʁɛ/	nous soustrayons /nu sus.tʁɛ.jɔ̃/ or /nu sus.tʁe.jɔ̃/	vous soustrayez /vu sus.tʁɛ.je/ or /vu sus.tʁe.je/	se soustraient /sə sus.tʁɛ/
	imperfect	me soustrayais /mə sus.tʁɛ.jɛ/ or /mə sus.tʁe.jɛ/	te soustrayais /tə sus.tʁɛ.jɛ/ or /tə sus.tʁe.jɛ/	se soustrayait /sə sus.tʁɛ.jɛ/ or /sə sus.tʁe.jɛ/	nous soustrayions /nu sus.tʁɛj.jɔ̃/	vous soustrayiez /vu sus.tʁɛj.je/	se soustrayaient /sə sus.tʁɛ.jɛ/ or /sə sus.tʁe.jɛ/
	past historic2	me soustrayai /mə sus.tʁɛe/	te soustrayas /tə sus.tʁɛa/	se soustraya /sə sus.tʁɛa/	nous soustrayâmes /nu sus.tʁɛam/	vous soustrayâtes /vu sus.tʁɛat/	se soustrayèrent /sə sus.tʁɛɛʁ/
	future	me soustrairai /mə sus.tʁɛ.ʁe/ or /mə sus.tʁe.ʁe/	te soustrairas /tə sus.tʁɛ.ʁa/ or /tə sus.tʁe.ʁa/	se soustraira /sə sus.tʁɛ.ʁa/ or /sə sus.tʁe.ʁa/	nous soustrairons /nu sus.tʁɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /nu sus.tʁe.ʁɔ̃/	vous soustrairez /vu sus.tʁɛ.ʁe/ or /vu sus.tʁe.ʁe/	se soustrairont /sə sus.tʁɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /sə sus.tʁe.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	me soustrairais /mə sus.tʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /mə sus.tʁe.ʁɛ/	te soustrairais /tə sus.tʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /tə sus.tʁe.ʁɛ/	se soustrairait /sə sus.tʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /sə sus.tʁe.ʁɛ/	nous soustrairions /nu sus.tʁɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /nu sus.tʁe.ʁjɔ̃/	vous soustrairiez /vu sus.tʁɛ.ʁje/ or /vu sus.tʁe.ʁje/	se soustrairaient /sə sus.tʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /sə sus.tʁe.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	me soustraie /mə sus.tʁɛ/	te soustraies /tə sus.tʁɛ/	se soustraie /sə sus.tʁɛ/	nous soustrayions /nu sus.tʁɛj.jɔ̃/	vous soustrayiez /vu sus.tʁɛj.je/	se soustraient /sə sus.tʁɛ/
	imperfect2	me soustrayasse /mə sus.tʁɛas/	te soustrayasses /tə sus.tʁɛas/	se soustrayât /sə sus.tʁɛa/	nous soustrayassions /nu sus.tʁɛa.sjɔ̃/	vous soustrayassiez /vu sus.tʁɛa.sje/	se soustrayassent /sə sus.tʁɛas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	soustrais-toi /sus.tʁɛ.twa/	—	soustrayons-nous /sus.tʁɛ.jɔ̃.nu/ or /sus.tʁe.jɔ̃.nu/	soustrayez-vous /sus.tʁɛ.je.vu/ or /sus.tʁe.je.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + 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).

Related terms

• soustraction

Descendants

• → Romanian: sustrage

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• retroussai, trousserai