interpréter

See also: interpreter

French

Etymology

From Latin interpretārī.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

interpréter

1. (transitive) to translate

   Synonym: traduire

2. (transitive) to interpret
3. (transitive) to construe

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like céder. It is a regular -er verb, except that its last stem vowel alternates between /e/ (written 'é') and /ɛ/ (written 'è'), with the latter being used before mute 'e'. One special case is the future stem, used in the future and the conditional. Before 1990, the future stem of such verbs was written interpréter-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written interprèter-, reflecting the now common pronunciation /ɛ/, thereby making this distinction consistent throughout the conjugation (and also matching in this regard the conjugations of verbs like lever and jeter). Both spellings are in use today, and both are therefore given here.

Conjugation of interpréter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	interpréter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	interprétant /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		interprété /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	interprète /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/	interprètes /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/	interprète /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/	interprétons /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɔ̃/	interprétez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.te/	interprètent /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/
	imperfect	interprétais /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɛ/	interprétais /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɛ/	interprétait /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɛ/	interprétions /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tjɔ̃/	interprétiez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tje/	interprétaient /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɛ/
	past historic2	interprétai /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.te/	interprétas /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.ta/	interpréta /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.ta/	interprétâmes /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tam/	interprétâtes /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tat/	interprétèrent /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɛʁ/
	future	interprèterai or interpréterai /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁe/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁe/	interprèteras or interpréteras /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁa/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁa/	interprètera or interprétera /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁa/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁa/	interprèterons or interpréterons /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁɔ̃/	interprèterez or interpréterez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁe/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁe/	interprèteront or interpréteront /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	interprèterais or interpréterais /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁɛ/	interprèterais or interpréterais /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁɛ/	interprèterait or interpréterait /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tʁɛ/	interprèterions or interpréterions /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	interprèteriez or interpréteriez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tə.ʁje/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tə.ʁje/	interprèteraient or interpréteraient /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.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	interprète /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/	interprètes /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/	interprète /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/	interprétions /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tjɔ̃/	interprétiez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tje/	interprètent /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/
	imperfect2	interprétasse /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tas/	interprétasses /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tas/	interprétât /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.ta/	interprétassions /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.ta.sjɔ̃/	interprétassiez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.ta.sje/	interprétassent /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	interprète /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁɛt/	—	interprétons /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.tɔ̃/	interprétez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pʁe.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).

Related terms

• interprète
• interprétation

Descendants

• → Dutch: interpreteren
• → German: interpretieren

Further reading

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