provoquer

French

Etymology

From Middle French provoquer, from Old French provoker, provoquer, provochier, from Latin prōvocō, prōvocāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.vɔ.ke/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

provoquer

1. to provoke, bring on, bring about

Conjugation

Conjugation of provoquer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	provoquer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	provoquant /pʁɔ.vɔ.kɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		provoqué /pʁɔ.vɔ.ke/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	provoque /pʁɔ.vɔk/	provoques /pʁɔ.vɔk/	provoque /pʁɔ.vɔk/	provoquons /pʁɔ.vɔ.kɔ̃/	provoquez /pʁɔ.vɔ.ke/	provoquent /pʁɔ.vɔk/
	imperfect	provoquais /pʁɔ.vɔ.kɛ/	provoquais /pʁɔ.vɔ.kɛ/	provoquait /pʁɔ.vɔ.kɛ/	provoquions /pʁɔ.vɔ.kjɔ̃/	provoquiez /pʁɔ.vɔ.kje/	provoquaient /pʁɔ.vɔ.kɛ/
	past historic2	provoquai /pʁɔ.vɔ.ke/	provoquas /pʁɔ.vɔ.ka/	provoqua /pʁɔ.vɔ.ka/	provoquâmes /pʁɔ.vɔ.kam/	provoquâtes /pʁɔ.vɔ.kat/	provoquèrent /pʁɔ.vɔ.kɛʁ/
	future	provoquerai /pʁɔ.vɔ.kʁe/	provoqueras /pʁɔ.vɔ.kʁa/	provoquera /pʁɔ.vɔ.kʁa/	provoquerons /pʁɔ.vɔ.kʁɔ̃/	provoquerez /pʁɔ.vɔ.kʁe/	provoqueront /pʁɔ.vɔ.kʁɔ̃/
	conditional	provoquerais /pʁɔ.vɔ.kʁɛ/	provoquerais /pʁɔ.vɔ.kʁɛ/	provoquerait /pʁɔ.vɔ.kʁɛ/	provoquerions /pʁɔ.vɔ.kə.ʁjɔ̃/	provoqueriez /pʁɔ.vɔ.kə.ʁje/	provoqueraient /pʁɔ.vɔ.kʁɛ/
(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	provoque /pʁɔ.vɔk/	provoques /pʁɔ.vɔk/	provoque /pʁɔ.vɔk/	provoquions /pʁɔ.vɔ.kjɔ̃/	provoquiez /pʁɔ.vɔ.kje/	provoquent /pʁɔ.vɔk/
	imperfect2	provoquasse /pʁɔ.vɔ.kas/	provoquasses /pʁɔ.vɔ.kas/	provoquât /pʁɔ.vɔ.ka/	provoquassions /pʁɔ.vɔ.ka.sjɔ̃/	provoquassiez /pʁɔ.vɔ.ka.sje/	provoquassent /pʁɔ.vɔ.kas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	provoque /pʁɔ.vɔk/	—	provoquons /pʁɔ.vɔ.kɔ̃/	provoquez /pʁɔ.vɔ.ke/	—
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).

Related terms

• provocant
• provocant
• provocateur

• évoquer
• invoquer
• révoquer

Further reading

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