atteler

French

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *attelare, from Latin protelare.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /a.t(ə).le/
Audio: (file)
Audio (France (Vosges)): (file)
Audio (France (Somain)): (file)

Verb

atteler

(transitive) to harness, yoke, hitch (e.g. a horse to a wagon)
(reflexive, figurative) to get down to, apply oneself to
- 2022 December 1, Mohamed Berkani, “Pourquoi "Beyrouth-sur-Seine", le livre de Sabyl Ghoussoub, a ravi les jurés du Goncourt des lycéens (et les autres)”, in Franceinfo‎^[1]:
  L’écrivain et journaliste franco-libanais s’attèle à narrer l’histoire de ses parents et sa propre quête d’identité dans un récit plein d’humour.
  The French-Lebanese writer and journalist sets out to tell the story of his and his parents' search for identity in an account that is full of humour.
- 2026 April 25, “Macron va-t-il vraiement s'éloigner de la politique ?”, in La Provence, page 22:
  Depuis plusieurs semaines déjà, le chef de l'État s'attelle à tresser son héritage quand, dans son camp, les prétendants à sa succession cherchent à se démarquer face à son impopularité record.
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

With the exception of appeler, jeter and their derived verbs, all verbs that used to double the consonants can now also be conjugated like amener.

Conjugation of atteler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	compound	avoir + past participle
infinitive	simple	atteler
present participle or gerund¹	simple	attelant /at.lɑ̃/
present participle or gerund¹	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		attelé /at.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	attelle or attèle /a.tɛl/	attelles or attèles /a.tɛl/	attelle or attèle /a.tɛl/	attelons /at.lɔ̃/	attelez /at.le/	attellent or attèlent /a.tɛl/
	imperfect	attelais /at.lɛ/	attelais /at.lɛ/	attelait /at.lɛ/	attelions /a.tə.ljɔ̃/	atteliez /a.tə.lje/	attelaient /at.lɛ/
	past historic²	attelai /at.le/	attelas /at.la/	attela /at.la/	attelâmes /at.lam/	attelâtes /at.lat/	attelèrent /at.lɛʁ/
	future	attellerai or attèlerai /a.tɛl.ʁe/	attelleras or attèleras /a.tɛl.ʁa/	attellera or attèlera /a.tɛl.ʁa/	attellerons or attèlerons /a.tɛl.ʁɔ̃/	attellerez or attèlerez /a.tɛl.ʁe/	attelleront or attèleront /a.tɛl.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	attellerais or attèlerais /a.tɛl.ʁɛ/	attellerais or attèlerais /a.tɛl.ʁɛ/	attellerait or attèlerait /a.tɛl.ʁɛ/	attellerions or attèlerions /a.tɛ.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /a.te.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	attelleriez or attèleriez /a.tɛ.lə.ʁje/ or /a.te.lə.ʁje/	attelleraient or attèleraient /a.tɛl.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	attelle or attèle /a.tɛl/	attelles or attèles /a.tɛl/	attelle or attèle /a.tɛl/	attelions /a.tə.ljɔ̃/	atteliez /a.tə.lje/	attellent or attèlent /a.tɛl/
(simple tenses)	imperfect²	attelasse /at.las/	attelasses /at.las/	attelât /at.la/	attelassions /at.la.sjɔ̃/	attelassiez /at.la.sje/	attelassent /at.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
(compound tenses)	pluperfect²	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	~~nous~~	~~vous~~	–
simple		—	attelle or attèle /a.tɛl/	—	attelons /at.lɔ̃/	attelez /at.le/	—
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

Anagrams

Arlette