persifler

French

Alternative forms

• persiffler (post-1990 spelling)

Etymology

Formed from the intensive Latin prefix per- and the verb siffler (“to boo, to show disapproval”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛʁ.si.fle/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

persifler

1. to mock; to goad

Conjugation

Conjugation of persifler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	persifler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	persiflant /pɛʁ.si.flɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		persiflé /pɛʁ.si.fle/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	persifle /pɛʁ.sifl/	persifles /pɛʁ.sifl/	persifle /pɛʁ.sifl/	persiflons /pɛʁ.si.flɔ̃/	persiflez /pɛʁ.si.fle/	persiflent /pɛʁ.sifl/
	imperfect	persiflais /pɛʁ.si.flɛ/	persiflais /pɛʁ.si.flɛ/	persiflait /pɛʁ.si.flɛ/	persiflions /pɛʁ.si.fli.jɔ̃/	persifliez /pɛʁ.si.fli.je/	persiflaient /pɛʁ.si.flɛ/
	past historic2	persiflai /pɛʁ.si.fle/	persiflas /pɛʁ.si.fla/	persifla /pɛʁ.si.fla/	persiflâmes /pɛʁ.si.flam/	persiflâtes /pɛʁ.si.flat/	persiflèrent /pɛʁ.si.flɛʁ/
	future	persiflerai /pɛʁ.si.flə.ʁe/	persifleras /pɛʁ.si.flə.ʁa/	persiflera /pɛʁ.si.flə.ʁa/	persiflerons /pɛʁ.si.flə.ʁɔ̃/	persiflerez /pɛʁ.si.flə.ʁe/	persifleront /pɛʁ.si.flə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	persiflerais /pɛʁ.si.flə.ʁɛ/	persiflerais /pɛʁ.si.flə.ʁɛ/	persiflerait /pɛʁ.si.flə.ʁɛ/	persiflerions /pɛʁ.si.flə.ʁjɔ̃/	persifleriez /pɛʁ.si.flə.ʁje/	persifleraient /pɛʁ.si.flə.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	persifle /pɛʁ.sifl/	persifles /pɛʁ.sifl/	persifle /pɛʁ.sifl/	persiflions /pɛʁ.si.fli.jɔ̃/	persifliez /pɛʁ.si.fli.je/	persiflent /pɛʁ.sifl/
	imperfect2	persiflasse /pɛʁ.si.flas/	persiflasses /pɛʁ.si.flas/	persiflât /pɛʁ.si.fla/	persiflassions /pɛʁ.si.fla.sjɔ̃/	persiflassiez /pɛʁ.si.fla.sje/	persiflassent /pɛʁ.si.flas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	persifle /pɛʁ.sifl/	—	persiflons /pɛʁ.si.flɔ̃/	persiflez /pɛʁ.si.fle/	—
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).

Descendants

• → Dutch: persifleren
• → German: persiflieren

Further reading

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