discerner

English

Etymology

discern +‎ -er.

Noun

discerner (plural discerners)

1. One who, or that which, discerns, distinguishes, or judges.

   a discerner of truth, of right and wrong

   • Clarendon

     A great observer and discerner of men's natures.

Anagrams

• rescinder

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin discernere, present active infinitive of discernō, assimilated into the first conjugation group (regular -er suffixed verbs).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.sɛʁ.ne/

• audio:

  (file)

Verb

discerner

1. to discern

Conjugation

Conjugation of discerner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	discerner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	discernant /di.sɛʁ.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		discerné /di.sɛʁ.ne/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	discerne /di.sɛʁn/	discernes /di.sɛʁn/	discerne /di.sɛʁn/	discernons /di.sɛʁ.nɔ̃/	discernez /di.sɛʁ.ne/	discernent /di.sɛʁn/
	imperfect	discernais /di.sɛʁ.nɛ/	discernais /di.sɛʁ.nɛ/	discernait /di.sɛʁ.nɛ/	discernions /di.sɛʁ.njɔ̃/	discerniez /di.sɛʁ.nje/	discernaient /di.sɛʁ.nɛ/
	past historic2	discernai /di.sɛʁ.ne/	discernas /di.sɛʁ.na/	discerna /di.sɛʁ.na/	discernâmes /di.sɛʁ.nam/	discernâtes /di.sɛʁ.nat/	discernèrent /di.sɛʁ.nɛʁ/
	future	discernerai /di.sɛʁ.nə.ʁe/	discerneras /di.sɛʁ.nə.ʁa/	discernera /di.sɛʁ.nə.ʁa/	discernerons /di.sɛʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃/	discernerez /di.sɛʁ.nə.ʁe/	discerneront /di.sɛʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	discernerais /di.sɛʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	discernerais /di.sɛʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	discernerait /di.sɛʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	discernerions /di.sɛʁ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/	discerneriez /di.sɛʁ.nə.ʁje/	discerneraient /di.sɛʁ.nə.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	discerne /di.sɛʁn/	discernes /di.sɛʁn/	discerne /di.sɛʁn/	discernions /di.sɛʁ.njɔ̃/	discerniez /di.sɛʁ.nje/	discernent /di.sɛʁn/
	imperfect2	discernasse /di.sɛʁ.nas/	discernasses /di.sɛʁ.nas/	discernât /di.sɛʁ.na/	discernassions /di.sɛʁ.na.sjɔ̃/	discernassiez /di.sɛʁ.na.sje/	discernassent /di.sɛʁ.nas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	discerne /di.sɛʁn/	—	discernons /di.sɛʁ.nɔ̃/	discernez /di.sɛʁ.ne/	—
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

• concerner
• discret
• discrétion

See also

• distinguer

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• cendriers