égayer

French

Etymology

From é- +‎ gai +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.ɡɛ.je/, /e.ɡe.je/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

égayer

1. (transitive) to entertain
2. (transitive) to brighten up (make appear more jolly)
3. (reflexive) to have fun, to enjoy oneself

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb as far as pronunciation is concerned, but as with other verbs in -ayer (such as payer and essayer, the <y> of its stem may optionally be written as <i> when it precedes a silent <e> (compare verbs in -eyer, which never have this spelling change, and verbs in -oyer and -uyer, which always have it; verbs in -ayer belong to either group, according to the writer's preference).

Conjugation of égayer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	égayer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	égayant /e.ɡɛ.jɑ̃/ or /e.ɡe.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		égayé /e.ɡɛ.je/ or /e.ɡe.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	égaye or égaie /e.ɡɛj/ or /e.ɡɛ/	égayes or égaies /e.ɡɛj/ or /e.ɡɛ/	égaye or égaie /e.ɡɛj/ or /e.ɡɛ/	égayons /e.ɡɛ.jɔ̃/ or /e.ɡe.jɔ̃/	égayez /e.ɡɛ.je/ or /e.ɡe.je/	égayent or égaient /e.ɡɛj/ or /e.ɡɛ/
	imperfect	égayais /e.ɡɛ.jɛ/ or /e.ɡe.jɛ/	égayais /e.ɡɛ.jɛ/ or /e.ɡe.jɛ/	égayait /e.ɡɛ.jɛ/ or /e.ɡe.jɛ/	égayions /e.ɡɛj.jɔ̃/	égayiez /e.ɡɛj.je/	égayaient /e.ɡɛ.jɛ/ or /e.ɡe.jɛ/
	past historic2	égayai /e.ɡɛ.je/ or /e.ɡe.je/	égayas /e.ɡɛ.ja/ or /e.ɡe.ja/	égaya /e.ɡɛ.ja/ or /e.ɡe.ja/	égayâmes /e.ɡɛ.jam/ or /e.ɡe.jam/	égayâtes /e.ɡɛ.jat/ or /e.ɡe.jat/	égayèrent /e.ɡɛ.jɛʁ/ or /e.ɡe.jɛʁ/
	future	égayerai or égaierai /e.ɡɛj.ʁe/ or /e.ɡɛ.ʁe/ or /e.ɡe.ʁe/	égayeras or égaieras /e.ɡɛj.ʁa/ or /e.ɡɛ.ʁa/ or /e.ɡe.ʁa/	égayera or égaiera /e.ɡɛj.ʁa/ or /e.ɡɛ.ʁa/ or /e.ɡe.ʁa/	égayerons or égaierons /e.ɡɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /e.ɡɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /e.ɡe.ʁɔ̃/	égayerez or égaierez /e.ɡɛj.ʁe/ or /e.ɡɛ.ʁe/ or /e.ɡe.ʁe/	égayeront or égaieront /e.ɡɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /e.ɡɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /e.ɡe.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	égayerais or égaierais /e.ɡɛj.ʁɛ/ or /e.ɡɛ.ʁɛ/ or /e.ɡe.ʁɛ/	égayerais or égaierais /e.ɡɛj.ʁɛ/ or /e.ɡɛ.ʁɛ/ or /e.ɡe.ʁɛ/	égayerait or égaierait /e.ɡɛj.ʁɛ/ or /e.ɡɛ.ʁɛ/ or /e.ɡe.ʁɛ/	égayerions or égaierions /e.ɡɛ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /e.ɡe.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /e.ɡɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /e.ɡe.ʁjɔ̃/	égayeriez or égaieriez /e.ɡɛ.jə.ʁje/ or /e.ɡe.jə.ʁje/ or /e.ɡɛ.ʁje/ or /e.ɡe.ʁje/	égayeraient or égaieraient /e.ɡɛj.ʁɛ/ or /e.ɡɛ.ʁɛ/ or /e.ɡe.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	égaye or égaie /e.ɡɛj/ or /e.ɡɛ/	égayes or égaies /e.ɡɛj/ or /e.ɡɛ/	égaye or égaie /e.ɡɛj/ or /e.ɡɛ/	égayions /e.ɡɛj.jɔ̃/	égayiez /e.ɡɛj.je/	égayent or égaient /e.ɡɛj/ or /e.ɡɛ/
	imperfect2	égayasse /e.ɡɛ.jas/ or /e.ɡe.jas/	égayasses /e.ɡɛ.jas/ or /e.ɡe.jas/	égayât /e.ɡɛ.ja/ or /e.ɡe.ja/	égayassions /e.ɡɛ.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /e.ɡe.ja.sjɔ̃/	égayassiez /e.ɡɛ.ja.sje/ or /e.ɡe.ja.sje/	égayassent /e.ɡɛ.jas/ or /e.ɡe.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	égaye or égaie /e.ɡɛj/ or /e.ɡɛ/	—	égayons /e.ɡɛ.jɔ̃/ or /e.ɡe.jɔ̃/	égayez /e.ɡɛ.je/ or /e.ɡe.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).

Related terms

• égaiement
• égayement

Further reading

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