conter

French

Etymology

From Old French conter, from Latin computāre, present active infinitive of computō. Doublet of compter and computer. Semantical shift from "to count" to "to enumerate facts, to go through facts".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.te/

• audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: compter

Verb

conter

1. to recount (tell a story)

Conjugation

Conjugation of conter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	conter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	contant /kɔ̃.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		conté /kɔ̃.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	conte /kɔ̃t/	contes /kɔ̃t/	conte /kɔ̃t/	contons /kɔ̃.tɔ̃/	contez /kɔ̃.te/	content /kɔ̃t/
	imperfect	contais /kɔ̃.tɛ/	contais /kɔ̃.tɛ/	contait /kɔ̃.tɛ/	contions /kɔ̃.tjɔ̃/	contiez /kɔ̃.tje/	contaient /kɔ̃.tɛ/
	past historic2	contai /kɔ̃.te/	contas /kɔ̃.ta/	conta /kɔ̃.ta/	contâmes /kɔ̃.tam/	contâtes /kɔ̃.tat/	contèrent /kɔ̃.tɛʁ/
	future	conterai /kɔ̃.tʁe/	conteras /kɔ̃.tʁa/	contera /kɔ̃.tʁa/	conterons /kɔ̃.tʁɔ̃/	conterez /kɔ̃.tʁe/	conteront /kɔ̃.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	conterais /kɔ̃.tʁɛ/	conterais /kɔ̃.tʁɛ/	conterait /kɔ̃.tʁɛ/	conterions /kɔ̃.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	conteriez /kɔ̃.tə.ʁje/	conteraient /kɔ̃.tʁɛ/
(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	conte /kɔ̃t/	contes /kɔ̃t/	conte /kɔ̃t/	contions /kɔ̃.tjɔ̃/	contiez /kɔ̃.tje/	content /kɔ̃t/
	imperfect2	contasse /kɔ̃.tas/	contasses /kɔ̃.tas/	contât /kɔ̃.ta/	contassions /kɔ̃.ta.sjɔ̃/	contassiez /kɔ̃.ta.sje/	contassent /kɔ̃.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	conte /kɔ̃t/	—	contons /kɔ̃.tɔ̃/	contez /kɔ̃.te/	—
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

• compter

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• contre, contré
• cornet

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Galician

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese contẽer, from Latin continēre, present active infinitive of contineō (“I contain”)

Verb

1. to contain
2. first-person singular personal infinitive of conter
3. third-person singular personal infinitive of conter

Related terms

• abster
• ater
• deter
• entreter

• manter
• reter
• soster
• ter

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Old French

Alternative forms

• (Anglo-Norman) cunter

Etymology

From Latin computāre, present active infinitive of computō (“compute”).

Verb

conter

1. to tell; to say
2. to recount (tell a story)
3. to add up (count)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-ts, *-tt are modified to z, t. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of conter (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		conter			avoir conté
gerund		en contant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		contant
past participle		conté
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	cont	contes	conte	contons	contez	content
	imperfect	contoie, conteie, contoe, conteve	contoies, conteies, contoes, conteves	contoit, conteit, contot, conteve	contiiens, contiens	contiiez, contiez	contoient, conteient, contoent, contevent
	preterite	contai	contas	conta	contames	contastes	conterent
	future	conterai	conteras	contera	conterons	conteroiz, contereiz, conterez	conteront
	conditional	conteroie, contereie	conteroies, contereies	conteroit, contereit	conteriiens, conteriens	conteriiez, conteriez	conteroient, contereient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	cont	conz	cont	contons	contez	content
	imperfect	contasse	contasses	contast	contissons, contissiens	contissoiz, contissez, contissiez	contassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	conte	—	contons	contez	—

Descendants

• Middle French: compter
  • French: conter, compter

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Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese contẽer, from Latin continēre, present active infinitive of contineō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kõˈteɾ/
• IPA^(key): /kõ.ˈte(ʁ)/
• Hyphenation: con‧ter

Verb

1. to contain, hold, carry
2. to include

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:conter.

Related terms

• continente
• continência
• contenças
• conteúdo
• ter

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Walloon

Etymology

From Old French conter, from Latin computō, computare (“compute”).

Verb

conter

1. to count

Conjugation

   —         —   Conjugation of the verb conter in Walloon   —   Codjowaedje do viebe conter e walon

infinitive			conter
gerund			contant
auxiliary			aveur
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		conté		conteye
		plural		contés		conteyes
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		dji (dj')	ti (t')	i (il) / ele	dji (dj') / nos	vos	i (il)
	present	conte	contes	conte	contans	contez	contnut or contèt
	imperfect	contéve	contéves	contéve	conténs	contîz	contént
	preterit	conta	contas	conta	contîs	contîz	contît
	future	contrè	contrès	contrè	contrans	controz	contront
	conditional	contreu	contreus	contreut	contréns	contrîz	contrént
subjunctive		ki dj'	ki t'	k' i (il) / k' ele	ki dj' / ki nos	ki vos	k' i (il)
	present	conte	contes	conte	contanxhe	contoxhe	contnuxhe or contèxhe
	imperfect	contaxhe	contaxhes	contaxhe	conténxhe	contîxhe	conténxhe
imperative		—	ti	—	dji / nos	vos	—
	affirmative		conte!		contans!	contez!