chatoyer
French
Etymology
chat + -oyer, referring to the tapetum of the cat's eye
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Verb
chatoyer
- (intransitive) to shimmer; to iridesce (to reflect light in different colors depending on the direction and orientation)
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 chatoyer (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | chatoyer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | chatoyant /ʃa.twa.jɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | chatoyé /ʃa.twa.je/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | chatoie /ʃa.twa/ |
chatoies /ʃa.twa/ |
chatoie /ʃa.twa/ |
chatoyons /ʃa.twa.jɔ̃/ |
chatoyez /ʃa.twa.je/ |
chatoient /ʃa.twa/ |
| imperfect | chatoyais /ʃa.twa.jɛ/ |
chatoyais /ʃa.twa.jɛ/ |
chatoyait /ʃa.twa.jɛ/ |
chatoyions /ʃa.twaj.jɔ̃/ |
chatoyiez /ʃa.twaj.je/ |
chatoyaient /ʃa.twa.jɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | chatoyai /ʃa.twa.je/ |
chatoyas /ʃa.twa.ja/ |
chatoya /ʃa.twa.ja/ |
chatoyâmes /ʃa.twa.jam/ |
chatoyâtes /ʃa.twa.jat/ |
chatoyèrent /ʃa.twa.jɛʁ/ | |
| future | chatoierai /ʃa.twa.ʁe/ |
chatoieras /ʃa.twa.ʁa/ |
chatoiera /ʃa.twa.ʁa/ |
chatoierons /ʃa.twa.ʁɔ̃/ |
chatoierez /ʃa.twa.ʁe/ |
chatoieront /ʃa.twa.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | chatoierais /ʃa.twa.ʁɛ/ |
chatoierais /ʃa.twa.ʁɛ/ |
chatoierait /ʃa.twa.ʁɛ/ |
chatoierions /ʃa.twa.ʁjɔ̃/ |
chatoieriez /ʃa.twa.ʁje/ |
chatoieraient /ʃa.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 | chatoie /ʃa.twa/ |
chatoies /ʃa.twa/ |
chatoie /ʃa.twa/ |
chatoyions /ʃa.twaj.jɔ̃/ |
chatoyiez /ʃa.twaj.je/ |
chatoient /ʃa.twa/ |
| imperfect2 | chatoyasse /ʃa.twa.jas/ |
chatoyasses /ʃa.twa.jas/ |
chatoyât /ʃa.twa.ja/ |
chatoyassions /ʃa.twa.ja.sjɔ̃/ |
chatoyassiez /ʃa.twa.ja.sje/ |
chatoyassent /ʃa.twa.jas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | chatoie /ʃa.twa/ |
— | chatoyons /ʃa.twa.jɔ̃/ |
chatoyez /ʃa.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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Further reading
- “chatoyer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.