contracter

French

Etymology

A learned word created from the root of Latin contractus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.tʁak.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

contracter

1. (transitive) To engage via a formal or informal contract; to contract.
2. (transitive) To contract a disease; to develop or acquire a bad habit.
3. (transitive) To reduce the volume or size.
4. (reflexive) To reduce its own size.

Usage notes

• The volume-related meanings of contract are usually translated with rétracter or recroqueviller, which may refer to pull away or back, whereas contracter is much more global.

Conjugation

Conjugation of contracter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	contracter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	contractant /kɔ̃.tʁak.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		contracté /kɔ̃.tʁak.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	contracte /kɔ̃.tʁakt/	contractes /kɔ̃.tʁakt/	contracte /kɔ̃.tʁakt/	contractons /kɔ̃.tʁak.tɔ̃/	contractez /kɔ̃.tʁak.te/	contractent /kɔ̃.tʁakt/
	imperfect	contractais /kɔ̃.tʁak.tɛ/	contractais /kɔ̃.tʁak.tɛ/	contractait /kɔ̃.tʁak.tɛ/	contractions /kɔ̃.tʁak.tjɔ̃/	contractiez /kɔ̃.tʁak.tje/	contractaient /kɔ̃.tʁak.tɛ/
	past historic2	contractai /kɔ̃.tʁak.te/	contractas /kɔ̃.tʁak.ta/	contracta /kɔ̃.tʁak.ta/	contractâmes /kɔ̃.tʁak.tam/	contractâtes /kɔ̃.tʁak.tat/	contractèrent /kɔ̃.tʁak.tɛʁ/
	future	contracterai /kɔ̃.tʁak.tə.ʁe/	contracteras /kɔ̃.tʁak.tə.ʁa/	contractera /kɔ̃.tʁak.tə.ʁa/	contracterons /kɔ̃.tʁak.tə.ʁɔ̃/	contracterez /kɔ̃.tʁak.tə.ʁe/	contracteront /kɔ̃.tʁak.tə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	contracterais /kɔ̃.tʁak.tə.ʁɛ/	contracterais /kɔ̃.tʁak.tə.ʁɛ/	contracterait /kɔ̃.tʁak.tə.ʁɛ/	contracterions /kɔ̃.tʁak.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	contracteriez /kɔ̃.tʁak.tə.ʁje/	contracteraient /kɔ̃.tʁak.tə.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	contracte /kɔ̃.tʁakt/	contractes /kɔ̃.tʁakt/	contracte /kɔ̃.tʁakt/	contractions /kɔ̃.tʁak.tjɔ̃/	contractiez /kɔ̃.tʁak.tje/	contractent /kɔ̃.tʁakt/
	imperfect2	contractasse /kɔ̃.tʁak.tas/	contractasses /kɔ̃.tʁak.tas/	contractât /kɔ̃.tʁak.ta/	contractassions /kɔ̃.tʁak.ta.sjɔ̃/	contractassiez /kɔ̃.tʁak.ta.sje/	contractassent /kɔ̃.tʁak.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	contracte /kɔ̃.tʁakt/	—	contractons /kɔ̃.tʁak.tɔ̃/	contractez /kɔ̃.tʁak.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).

Derived terms

• contractile
• contraction
• contractuel

 

Related terms

• contrat
• contraction

Further reading

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