étirer

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.ti.ʁe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

étirer

1. to stretch
   • 1894, Crafty, À travers Paris, page 11:

     Les véhicules enluminés stationnent alignés au bas des trottoirs, pendant que leurs attelages étirent leurs membres fatigués et allument la réconfortante cigarette.

     The illuminated vehicles park in rows along the sidewalks, while their teams stretch their tired limbs and light a comforting cigarette.

2. (reflexive, s'étirer) to stretch (stretch one's muscles)

Conjugation

Conjugation of étirer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	étirer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	étirant /e.ti.ʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		étiré /e.ti.ʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	étire /e.tiʁ/	étires /e.tiʁ/	étire /e.tiʁ/	étirons /e.ti.ʁɔ̃/	étirez /e.ti.ʁe/	étirent /e.tiʁ/
	imperfect	étirais /e.ti.ʁɛ/	étirais /e.ti.ʁɛ/	étirait /e.ti.ʁɛ/	étirions /e.ti.ʁjɔ̃/	étiriez /e.ti.ʁje/	étiraient /e.ti.ʁɛ/
	past historic2	étirai /e.ti.ʁe/	étiras /e.ti.ʁa/	étira /e.ti.ʁa/	étirâmes /e.ti.ʁam/	étirâtes /e.ti.ʁat/	étirèrent /e.ti.ʁɛʁ/
	future	étirerai /e.ti.ʁə.ʁe/	étireras /e.ti.ʁə.ʁa/	étirera /e.ti.ʁə.ʁa/	étirerons /e.ti.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/	étirerez /e.ti.ʁə.ʁe/	étireront /e.ti.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	étirerais /e.ti.ʁə.ʁɛ/	étirerais /e.ti.ʁə.ʁɛ/	étirerait /e.ti.ʁə.ʁɛ/	étirerions /e.ti.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	étireriez /e.ti.ʁə.ʁje/	étireraient /e.ti.ʁə.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	étire /e.tiʁ/	étires /e.tiʁ/	étire /e.tiʁ/	étirions /e.ti.ʁjɔ̃/	étiriez /e.ti.ʁje/	étirent /e.tiʁ/
	imperfect2	étirasse /e.ti.ʁas/	étirasses /e.ti.ʁas/	étirât /e.ti.ʁa/	étirassions /e.ti.ʁa.sjɔ̃/	étirassiez /e.ti.ʁa.sje/	étirassent /e.ti.ʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	étire /e.tiʁ/	—	étirons /e.ti.ʁɔ̃/	étirez /e.ti.ʁe/	—
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

• s’étirer les jambes

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• étrier, itérer, retire, retiré