bégayer

French

Etymology

From Old French beguer, besguer (compare bègue).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /be.ɡɛ.je/ ~ /be.ɡe.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

bégayer

1. to stammer

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb as far as pronunciation is concerned, but as with other verbs in -ayer (such as payer and essayer), the <y> of its stem may optionally be written as <i> when it precedes a silent <e> (compare verbs in -eyer, which never have this spelling change, and verbs in -oyer and -uyer, which always have it; verbs in -ayer belong to either group, according to the writer's preference).

Conjugation of bégayer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	bégayer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	bégayant /be.ɡɛ.jɑ̃/ or /be.ɡe.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		bégayé /be.ɡɛ.je/ or /be.ɡe.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	bégaye or bégaie /be.ɡɛj/ or /be.ɡɛ/	bégayes or bégaies /be.ɡɛj/ or /be.ɡɛ/	bégaye or bégaie /be.ɡɛj/ or /be.ɡɛ/	bégayons /be.ɡɛ.jɔ̃/ or /be.ɡe.jɔ̃/	bégayez /be.ɡɛ.je/ or /be.ɡe.je/	bégayent or bégaient /be.ɡɛj/ or /be.ɡɛ/
	imperfect	bégayais /be.ɡɛ.jɛ/ or /be.ɡe.jɛ/	bégayais /be.ɡɛ.jɛ/ or /be.ɡe.jɛ/	bégayait /be.ɡɛ.jɛ/ or /be.ɡe.jɛ/	bégayions /be.ɡɛj.jɔ̃/	bégayiez /be.ɡɛj.je/	bégayaient /be.ɡɛ.jɛ/ or /be.ɡe.jɛ/
	past historic2	bégayai /be.ɡɛ.je/ or /be.ɡe.je/	bégayas /be.ɡɛ.ja/ or /be.ɡe.ja/	bégaya /be.ɡɛ.ja/ or /be.ɡe.ja/	bégayâmes /be.ɡɛ.jam/ or /be.ɡe.jam/	bégayâtes /be.ɡɛ.jat/ or /be.ɡe.jat/	bégayèrent /be.ɡɛ.jɛʁ/ or /be.ɡe.jɛʁ/
	future	bégayerai or bégaierai /be.ɡɛj.ʁe/ or /be.ɡɛ.ʁe/ or /be.ɡe.ʁe/	bégayeras or bégaieras /be.ɡɛj.ʁa/ or /be.ɡɛ.ʁa/ or /be.ɡe.ʁa/	bégayera or bégaiera /be.ɡɛj.ʁa/ or /be.ɡɛ.ʁa/ or /be.ɡe.ʁa/	bégayerons or bégaierons /be.ɡɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /be.ɡɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /be.ɡe.ʁɔ̃/	bégayerez or bégaierez /be.ɡɛj.ʁe/ or /be.ɡɛ.ʁe/ or /be.ɡe.ʁe/	bégayeront or bégaieront /be.ɡɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /be.ɡɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /be.ɡe.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	bégayerais or bégaierais /be.ɡɛj.ʁɛ/ or /be.ɡɛ.ʁɛ/ or /be.ɡe.ʁɛ/	bégayerais or bégaierais /be.ɡɛj.ʁɛ/ or /be.ɡɛ.ʁɛ/ or /be.ɡe.ʁɛ/	bégayerait or bégaierait /be.ɡɛj.ʁɛ/ or /be.ɡɛ.ʁɛ/ or /be.ɡe.ʁɛ/	bégayerions or bégaierions /be.ɡɛ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /be.ɡe.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /be.ɡɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /be.ɡe.ʁjɔ̃/	bégayeriez or bégaieriez /be.ɡɛ.jə.ʁje/ or /be.ɡe.jə.ʁje/ or /be.ɡɛ.ʁje/ or /be.ɡe.ʁje/	bégayeraient or bégaieraient /be.ɡɛj.ʁɛ/ or /be.ɡɛ.ʁɛ/ or /be.ɡe.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	bégaye or bégaie /be.ɡɛj/ or /be.ɡɛ/	bégayes or bégaies /be.ɡɛj/ or /be.ɡɛ/	bégaye or bégaie /be.ɡɛj/ or /be.ɡɛ/	bégayions /be.ɡɛj.jɔ̃/	bégayiez /be.ɡɛj.je/	bégayent or bégaient /be.ɡɛj/ or /be.ɡɛ/
	imperfect2	bégayasse /be.ɡɛ.jas/ or /be.ɡe.jas/	bégayasses /be.ɡɛ.jas/ or /be.ɡe.jas/	bégayât /be.ɡɛ.ja/ or /be.ɡe.ja/	bégayassions /be.ɡɛ.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /be.ɡe.ja.sjɔ̃/	bégayassiez /be.ɡɛ.ja.sje/ or /be.ɡe.ja.sje/	bégayassent /be.ɡɛ.jas/ or /be.ɡe.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	bégaye or bégaie /be.ɡɛj/ or /be.ɡɛ/	—	bégayons /be.ɡɛ.jɔ̃/ or /be.ɡe.jɔ̃/	bégayez /be.ɡɛ.je/ or /be.ɡe.je/	—
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

• bégaiement
• bégayeur/bégayeuse

Further reading

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