mettre

French

Etymology

Middle French, from Old French metre, from Latin mittere, present active infinitive of mittō.

Pronunciation

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• IPA: /mɛtʁ/
• Homophones: maitre, maitres, maître, maîtres, maistre, maistres, mètre, mètrent
• Rhymes: -ɛtʁ

Verb

mettre

1. (transitive) to put; to place
   • 1993, Aline Tauzin, Contes arabes de Mauritanie, ISBN 2865374599, page 133:

     il a pris un chiffon grisâtre et l'a mis sur la plaie

     He took a grayish cloth and placed it over the wound.

2. (transitive, of clothing) to put on
   • 2005, Marc Le Goupils, Revue de Paris, page 350:

     Elle n'avait pas mis son écharpe sur ses cheveux blonds

     She hadn't per her scarf over her blond hair.

3. (transitive) to set (to lay a table)
   • 1846, Jean Mallat de Bassilan, Les Philippines: histoire, géographie, moeurs, agriculture, industrie et commerce des colonies espagnoles dans l'Océanie, page 196:

     Il est déjà temps de manger / Mettez la table et la nappe

     It's already time to eat / Lay the table, put the cloth on.

4. (pronominal) to start (+ à) (something / doing something)
   • 1829, Victor Hugo, Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné, XXXIII:

     J'ouvris au hasard, je me rapprochai d'elle, elle appuya son épaule à mon épaule, et nous nous mîmes à lire chacun de notre côté, tout bas, la même page.

     I opened at random, I got close to her, she pressed her shoulder against my shoulder, and we each of us began on our own silently to read the same page.

Conjugation

• This verb is conjugated like battre except that its past participle is mis, not *mettu, and its past historic and imperfect subjunctive are formed with mi-, not *metti-.

   Conjugation of mettre (see also Appendix:French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		mettre			avoir mis
gerund		en mettant			en ayant mis
present participle		mettant
past participle		mis
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il	nous	vous	ils
simple tenses	present	mets	mets	met	mettons	mettez	mettent
	imperfect	mettais	mettais	mettait	mettions	mettiez	mettaient
	past historic1	mis	mis	mit	mîmes	mîtes	mirent
	future	mettrai	mettras	mettra	mettrons	mettrez	mettront
	conditional	mettrais	mettrais	mettrait	mettrions	mettriez	mettraient
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior1	Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il	que nous	que vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	mette	mettes	mette	mettions	mettiez	mettent
	imperfect1	misse	misses	mît	missions	missiez	missent
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect1	Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
		—	mets	—	mettons	mettez	—
1literary tenses

Related terms

Related terms

admettre commettre compromettre démettre émettre mettre en cause

mis mise omettre permettre promettre remettre

se mettre à se mettre d'accord se mettre martel en tête soumettre transmettre

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Jèrriais

Alternative forms

• mett'

Etymology

From Old French metre, from Latin mittō, mittere.

Verb

mettre

1. to put

Antonyms

• ôter (“to remove”)

Derived terms

Derived terms

mettre à la cape (“to heave to”) mettre en boête, mettre en prison (“to imprison”) mettre en rade (“to lay up”)

s'mettre l'dé dans l'yi (“to put one's foot in it”) m'tteux (“bidder”)