côtoyer

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French costoier. See côte and -oyer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ko.twa.je/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

côtoyer

1. (nautical, rare, intransitive) to coast

   Synonym: caboter

2. (literally) to pass alongside
3. (figurative) to rub shoulders

   Synonym: fréquenter

   • 2016, Mathilde Ramadier, Alberto Madrigal, Berlin 2.0, Futuropolis, →ISBN, page 47:

     Et toi t’as pris de bien mauvaises habitudes en me côtoyant!

     And you've picked up some very bad habits by spending time with me!

Conjugation

This verb is part of a large group of -er verbs that conjugate like noyer or ennuyer. These verbs always replace the 'y' with an 'i' before a silent 'e'.

Conjugation of côtoyer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	côtoyer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	côtoyant /ko.twa.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		côtoyé /ko.twa.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	côtoie /ko.twa/	côtoies /ko.twa/	côtoie /ko.twa/	côtoyons /ko.twa.jɔ̃/	côtoyez /ko.twa.je/	côtoient /ko.twa/
	imperfect	côtoyais /ko.twa.jɛ/	côtoyais /ko.twa.jɛ/	côtoyait /ko.twa.jɛ/	côtoyions /ko.twaj.jɔ̃/	côtoyiez /ko.twaj.je/	côtoyaient /ko.twa.jɛ/
	past historic2	côtoyai /ko.twa.je/	côtoyas /ko.twa.ja/	côtoya /ko.twa.ja/	côtoyâmes /ko.twa.jam/	côtoyâtes /ko.twa.jat/	côtoyèrent /ko.twa.jɛʁ/
	future	côtoierai /ko.twa.ʁe/	côtoieras /ko.twa.ʁa/	côtoiera /ko.twa.ʁa/	côtoierons /ko.twa.ʁɔ̃/	côtoierez /ko.twa.ʁe/	côtoieront /ko.twa.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	côtoierais /ko.twa.ʁɛ/	côtoierais /ko.twa.ʁɛ/	côtoierait /ko.twa.ʁɛ/	côtoierions /ko.twa.ʁjɔ̃/	côtoieriez /ko.twa.ʁje/	côtoieraient /ko.twa.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	côtoie /ko.twa/	côtoies /ko.twa/	côtoie /ko.twa/	côtoyions /ko.twaj.jɔ̃/	côtoyiez /ko.twaj.je/	côtoient /ko.twa/
	imperfect2	côtoyasse /ko.twa.jas/	côtoyasses /ko.twa.jas/	côtoyât /ko.twa.ja/	côtoyassions /ko.twa.ja.sjɔ̃/	côtoyassiez /ko.twa.ja.sje/	côtoyassent /ko.twa.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	côtoie /ko.twa/	—	côtoyons /ko.twa.jɔ̃/	côtoyez /ko.twa.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).

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• octroyé