japper

French

Etymology

From Middle French japper, from Old French japer (“to bark, howl, scream”), related to Old Occitan japar, jaupar (“to bark, yelp, yap”), probably of Germanic origin, perhaps via Frankish *galpōn (“to boast, brag, bark”), from Proto-Germanic *galpōną (“to sound out, boast”), related to Old Saxon galpōn (“to cry loudly, make a noise, brag”), Low German galpen (“to bark, howl”), Middle High German gelpfen (“to scream, bark, boast, proclaim”), Old Norse gjalpa (“to yelp”), Swedish dialectal galpa (“to cry, screech”). Compare also English yap. More at galp.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒa.pe/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

japper

1. to yap, yelp
2. (Canada) to bark

Usage notes

• Japper is much more commonly used in Canada than the more general aboyer.

Conjugation

Conjugation of japper (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	japper
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	jappant /ʒa.pɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		jappé /ʒa.pe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	jappe /ʒap/	jappes /ʒap/	jappe /ʒap/	jappons /ʒa.pɔ̃/	jappez /ʒa.pe/	jappent /ʒap/
	imperfect	jappais /ʒa.pɛ/	jappais /ʒa.pɛ/	jappait /ʒa.pɛ/	jappions /ʒa.pjɔ̃/	jappiez /ʒa.pje/	jappaient /ʒa.pɛ/
	past historic2	jappai /ʒa.pe/	jappas /ʒa.pa/	jappa /ʒa.pa/	jappâmes /ʒa.pam/	jappâtes /ʒa.pat/	jappèrent /ʒa.pɛʁ/
	future	japperai /ʒa.pʁe/	japperas /ʒa.pʁa/	jappera /ʒa.pʁa/	japperons /ʒa.pʁɔ̃/	japperez /ʒa.pʁe/	japperont /ʒa.pʁɔ̃/
	conditional	japperais /ʒa.pʁɛ/	japperais /ʒa.pʁɛ/	japperait /ʒa.pʁɛ/	japperions /ʒa.pə.ʁjɔ̃/	japperiez /ʒa.pə.ʁje/	japperaient /ʒa.pʁɛ/
(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	jappe /ʒap/	jappes /ʒap/	jappe /ʒap/	jappions /ʒa.pjɔ̃/	jappiez /ʒa.pje/	jappent /ʒap/
	imperfect2	jappasse /ʒa.pas/	jappasses /ʒa.pas/	jappât /ʒa.pa/	jappassions /ʒa.pa.sjɔ̃/	jappassiez /ʒa.pa.sje/	jappassent /ʒa.pas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	jappe /ʒap/	—	jappons /ʒa.pɔ̃/	jappez /ʒa.pe/	—
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

• jappement

Further reading

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