délayer

See also: delayer

French

Etymology

Perhaps from Vulgar Latin delicāre, present active infinitive of delicō, from Latin deliquāre, present active infinitive of deliquō, and influenced phonetically by the unrelated Old French delaier (cf. délai).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /de.lɛ.je/ ~ /de.le.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

délayer

1. (transitive) to add water to
   1. to thin (paint)
   2. to water down (another liquid)
2. to pad out (e.g. a speech)

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb as far as pronunciation is concerned, but as with other verbs in -ayer (such as payer and essayer, the <y> of its stem may optionally be written as <i> when it precedes a silent <e> (compare verbs in -eyer, which never have this spelling change, and verbs in -oyer and -uyer, which always have it; verbs in -ayer belong to either group, according to the writer's preference).

Conjugation of délayer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	délayer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	délayant /de.lɛ.jɑ̃/ or /de.le.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		délayé /de.lɛ.je/ or /de.le.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	délaye or délaie /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/	délayes or délaies /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/	délaye or délaie /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/	délayons /de.lɛ.jɔ̃/ or /de.le.jɔ̃/	délayez /de.lɛ.je/ or /de.le.je/	délayent or délaient /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/
	imperfect	délayais /de.lɛ.jɛ/ or /de.le.jɛ/	délayais /de.lɛ.jɛ/ or /de.le.jɛ/	délayait /de.lɛ.jɛ/ or /de.le.jɛ/	délayions /de.lɛj.jɔ̃/	délayiez /de.lɛj.je/	délayaient /de.lɛ.jɛ/ or /de.le.jɛ/
	past historic2	délayai /de.lɛ.je/ or /de.le.je/	délayas /de.lɛ.ja/ or /de.le.ja/	délaya /de.lɛ.ja/ or /de.le.ja/	délayâmes /de.lɛ.jam/ or /de.le.jam/	délayâtes /de.lɛ.jat/ or /de.le.jat/	délayèrent /de.lɛ.jɛʁ/ or /de.le.jɛʁ/
	future	délayerai or délaierai /de.lɛj.ʁe/ or /de.lɛ.ʁe/ or /de.le.ʁe/	délayeras or délaieras /de.lɛj.ʁa/ or /de.lɛ.ʁa/ or /de.le.ʁa/	délayera or délaiera /de.lɛj.ʁa/ or /de.lɛ.ʁa/ or /de.le.ʁa/	délayerons or délaierons /de.lɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /de.lɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /de.le.ʁɔ̃/	délayerez or délaierez /de.lɛj.ʁe/ or /de.lɛ.ʁe/ or /de.le.ʁe/	délayeront or délaieront /de.lɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /de.lɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /de.le.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	délayerais or délaierais /de.lɛj.ʁɛ/ or /de.lɛ.ʁɛ/ or /de.le.ʁɛ/	délayerais or délaierais /de.lɛj.ʁɛ/ or /de.lɛ.ʁɛ/ or /de.le.ʁɛ/	délayerait or délaierait /de.lɛj.ʁɛ/ or /de.lɛ.ʁɛ/ or /de.le.ʁɛ/	délayerions or délaierions /de.lɛ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /de.le.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /de.lɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /de.le.ʁjɔ̃/	délayeriez or délaieriez /de.lɛ.jə.ʁje/ or /de.le.jə.ʁje/ or /de.lɛ.ʁje/ or /de.le.ʁje/	délayeraient or délaieraient /de.lɛj.ʁɛ/ or /de.lɛ.ʁɛ/ or /de.le.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	délaye or délaie /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/	délayes or délaies /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/	délaye or délaie /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/	délayions /de.lɛj.jɔ̃/	délayiez /de.lɛj.je/	délayent or délaient /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/
	imperfect2	délayasse /de.lɛ.jas/ or /de.le.jas/	délayasses /de.lɛ.jas/ or /de.le.jas/	délayât /de.lɛ.ja/ or /de.le.ja/	délayassions /de.lɛ.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /de.le.ja.sjɔ̃/	délayassiez /de.lɛ.ja.sje/ or /de.le.ja.sje/	délayassent /de.lɛ.jas/ or /de.le.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	délaye or délaie /de.lɛj/ or /de.lɛ/	—	délayons /de.lɛ.jɔ̃/ or /de.le.jɔ̃/	délayez /de.lɛ.je/ or /de.le.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).

Derived terms

• délayement

Further reading

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