rencontrer

French

Etymology

From Old French encontrer prefixed with re-, from Late Latin *incontrare.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁe/

• audio:

  (file)

Verb

rencontrer

1. to meet
2. to come across

Conjugation

Conjugation of rencontrer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	rencontrer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	rencontrant /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		rencontré /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	rencontre /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃tʁ/	rencontres /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃tʁ/	rencontre /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃tʁ/	rencontrons /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁɔ̃/	rencontrez /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁe/	rencontrent /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃tʁ/
	imperfect	rencontrais /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁɛ/	rencontrais /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁɛ/	rencontrait /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁɛ/	rencontrions /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁi.jɔ̃/	rencontriez /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁi.je/	rencontraient /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁɛ/
	past historic2	rencontrai /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁe/	rencontras /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁa/	rencontra /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁa/	rencontrâmes /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁam/	rencontrâtes /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁat/	rencontrèrent /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁɛʁ/
	future	rencontrerai /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁə.ʁe/	rencontreras /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁə.ʁa/	rencontrera /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁə.ʁa/	rencontrerons /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁə.ʁɔ̃/	rencontrerez /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁə.ʁe/	rencontreront /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	rencontrerais /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁə.ʁɛ/	rencontrerais /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁə.ʁɛ/	rencontrerait /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁə.ʁɛ/	rencontrerions /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	rencontreriez /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁə.ʁje/	rencontreraient /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁə.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	rencontre /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃tʁ/	rencontres /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃tʁ/	rencontre /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃tʁ/	rencontrions /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁi.jɔ̃/	rencontriez /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁi.je/	rencontrent /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃tʁ/
	imperfect2	rencontrasse /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁas/	rencontrasses /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁas/	rencontrât /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁa/	rencontrassions /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁa.sjɔ̃/	rencontrassiez /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁa.sje/	rencontrassent /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	rencontre /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃tʁ/	—	rencontrons /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁɔ̃/	rencontrez /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁe/	—
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

• les grands esprits se rencontrent

Related terms

• rencontre

Further reading

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

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Norman

Etymology

From Old French re- (“again”) + encontrer (“to meet, encounter”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (Jersey):

  (file)

Verb

rencontrer

1. (Jersey) to meet