distinguer

French

Etymology

From Middle French distinguer, a 14th-century borrowing from Latin distinguere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dis.tɛ̃.ɡe/

• Audio:

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• Audio (France (Paris)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Massy)):

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Verb

distinguer

1. to distinguish

   Il n'existe pas de critère strictement linguistique permettant de distinguer une langue d'un dialecte.

   There is no strictly linguistic criterion capable of distinguishing a language from a dialect.

2. to make out (with one of the senses, often visually)

   Je n'arrive pas à distinguer les contours de la maison dans la pénombre.

   I can't make out the outlines of the house in the dark.

3. (reflexive) to be distinguished
   • 2015 July 16, Monde‎^[1]:

     Zohra Bitan se distingue désormais par des opinions proches des identitaires (pour les statistiques ethniques, contre immigration « économique », le communautarisme, le féminisme…).

     Zohra Bitan is now distinguished by opinions close to identitarian (for ethnic statistics, against “economic” immigration, communal separatism, feminism…).

Conjugation

Conjugation of distinguer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	distinguer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	distinguant /dis.tɛ̃.ɡɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		distingué /dis.tɛ̃.ɡe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	distingue /dis.tɛ̃ɡ/	distingues /dis.tɛ̃ɡ/	distingue /dis.tɛ̃ɡ/	distinguons /dis.tɛ̃.ɡɔ̃/	distinguez /dis.tɛ̃.ɡe/	distinguent /dis.tɛ̃ɡ/
	imperfect	distinguais /dis.tɛ̃.ɡɛ/	distinguais /dis.tɛ̃.ɡɛ/	distinguait /dis.tɛ̃.ɡɛ/	distinguions /dis.tɛ̃.ɡjɔ̃/	distinguiez /dis.tɛ̃.ɡje/	distinguaient /dis.tɛ̃.ɡɛ/
	past historic2	distinguai /dis.tɛ̃.ɡe/	distinguas /dis.tɛ̃.ɡa/	distingua /dis.tɛ̃.ɡa/	distinguâmes /dis.tɛ̃.ɡam/	distinguâtes /dis.tɛ̃.ɡat/	distinguèrent /dis.tɛ̃.ɡɛʁ/
	future	distinguerai /dis.tɛ̃.ɡʁe/	distingueras /dis.tɛ̃.ɡʁa/	distinguera /dis.tɛ̃.ɡʁa/	distinguerons /dis.tɛ̃.ɡʁɔ̃/	distinguerez /dis.tɛ̃.ɡʁe/	distingueront /dis.tɛ̃.ɡʁɔ̃/
	conditional	distinguerais /dis.tɛ̃.ɡʁɛ/	distinguerais /dis.tɛ̃.ɡʁɛ/	distinguerait /dis.tɛ̃.ɡʁɛ/	distinguerions /dis.tɛ̃.ɡə.ʁjɔ̃/	distingueriez /dis.tɛ̃.ɡə.ʁje/	distingueraient /dis.tɛ̃.ɡʁɛ/
(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	distingue /dis.tɛ̃ɡ/	distingues /dis.tɛ̃ɡ/	distingue /dis.tɛ̃ɡ/	distinguions /dis.tɛ̃.ɡjɔ̃/	distinguiez /dis.tɛ̃.ɡje/	distinguent /dis.tɛ̃ɡ/
	imperfect2	distinguasse /dis.tɛ̃.ɡas/	distinguasses /dis.tɛ̃.ɡas/	distinguât /dis.tɛ̃.ɡa/	distinguassions /dis.tɛ̃.ɡa.sjɔ̃/	distinguassiez /dis.tɛ̃.ɡa.sje/	distinguassent /dis.tɛ̃.ɡas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	distingue /dis.tɛ̃ɡ/	—	distinguons /dis.tɛ̃.ɡɔ̃/	distinguez /dis.tɛ̃.ɡe/	—
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

• distinctif
• distinction
• distinguable

Further reading

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

Interlingua

Verb

distinguer

1. to distinguish

Conjugation

    Conjugation of distinguer

infinitive		distinguer
participle		present	perfect
		distinguente	distinguite
active		simple	perfect
	present	distingue	ha distinguite
	past	distingueva	habeva distinguite
	future	distinguera	habera distinguite
	conditional	distinguerea	haberea distinguite
	imperative	distingue	—
passive		simple	perfect
	present	es distinguite	ha essite distinguite
	past	esseva distinguite	habeva essite distinguite
	future	essera distinguite	habera essite distinguite
	conditional	esserea distinguite	haberea essite distinguite
	imperative	sia distinguite	—

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /disˈtin.ɡwer/
• Rhymes: -inɡwer
• Hyphenation: di‧stìn‧guer

Verb

distinguer (apocopated)

1. apocopic form of distinguere