douter
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Noun[edit]
douter (plural douters)
- (obsolete) An extinguisher for candles.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “douter”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)
Anagrams[edit]
French[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Inherited from Latin dubitāre.
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
douter
- (followed by the preposition de) to doubt
- Il ne faut pas douter de la bonne foi de son interlocuteur.
- One must not doubt the intention of one's interlocutor.
- Je doute qu’il y parvienne.
- I doubt that he will manage.
- J’en doute.
- I doubt that.
- (reflexive) to suspect, to have an inkling
- Je me doutais qu’il n’allait pas bien, mais je ne savais pas que c’était à ce point-là.
- I suspected that he was not doing well, but I did not know that it was to that degree.
- Il s’en doute bien.
- He is well aware.
Usage notes[edit]
Douter subordinates a subjunctive content clause when used affirmatively, but subordinates the indicative when used non-affirmatively.
- Je doute qu’il ait fait ses devoirs.
- I doubt that he finished his homework.
- Je ne doute pas qu’il a perdu son crayon par accident.
- I don't doubt that he lost his pencil by accident.
Conjugation[edit]
infinitive | simple | douter | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
present participle or gerund1 | simple | doutant /du.tɑ̃/ | |||||
compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
past participle | douté /du.te/ | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | doute /dut/ |
doutes /dut/ |
doute /dut/ |
doutons /du.tɔ̃/ |
doutez /du.te/ |
doutent /dut/ |
imperfect | doutais /du.tɛ/ |
doutais /du.tɛ/ |
doutait /du.tɛ/ |
doutions /du.tjɔ̃/ |
doutiez /du.tje/ |
doutaient /du.tɛ/ | |
past historic2 | doutai /du.te/ |
doutas /du.ta/ |
douta /du.ta/ |
doutâmes /du.tam/ |
doutâtes /du.tat/ |
doutèrent /du.tɛʁ/ | |
future | douterai /du.tʁe/ |
douteras /du.tʁa/ |
doutera /du.tʁa/ |
douterons /du.tʁɔ̃/ |
douterez /du.tʁe/ |
douteront /du.tʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | douterais /du.tʁɛ/ |
douterais /du.tʁɛ/ |
douterait /du.tʁɛ/ |
douterions /du.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
douteriez /du.tə.ʁje/ |
douteraient /du.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 | doute /dut/ |
doutes /dut/ |
doute /dut/ |
doutions /du.tjɔ̃/ |
doutiez /du.tje/ |
doutent /dut/ |
imperfect2 | doutasse /du.tas/ |
doutasses /du.tas/ |
doutât /du.ta/ |
doutassions /du.ta.sjɔ̃/ |
doutassiez /du.ta.sje/ |
doutassent /du.tas/ | |
(compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | doute /dut/ |
— | doutons /du.tɔ̃/ |
doutez /du.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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). |
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “douter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams[edit]
Middle French[edit]
Verb[edit]
douter
- Alternative form of doubter
Old French[edit]
Verb[edit]
douter
- Alternative form of doter
Conjugation[edit]
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.
simple | compound | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
infinitive | douter | avoir douté | |||||
gerund | en doutant | Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
present participle | doutant | ||||||
past participle | douté | ||||||
person | singular | plural | |||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | jo | tu | il | nos | vos | il | |
simple tenses |
present | dout | doutes | doute | doutons | doutez | doutent |
imperfect | doutoie, douteie, doutoe, douteve | doutoies, douteies, doutoes, douteves | doutoit, douteit, doutot, douteve | doutiiens, doutiens | doutiiez, doutiez | doutoient, douteient, doutoent, doutevent | |
preterite | doutai | doutas | douta | doutames | doutastes | douterent | |
future | douterai | douteras | doutera | douterons | douteroiz, doutereiz, douterez | douteront | |
conditional | douteroie, doutereie | douteroies, doutereies | douteroit, doutereit | douteriiens, douteriens | douteriiez, douteriez | douteroient, doutereient | |
compound tenses |
present perfect | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
past anterior | Use the preterite tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
subjunctive | que jo | que tu | qu’il | que nos | que vos | qu’il | |
simple tenses |
present | dout | douz | dout | doutons | doutez | doutent |
imperfect | doutasse | doutasses | doutast | doutissons, doutissiens | doutissoiz, doutissez, doutissiez | doutassent | |
compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
pluperfect | Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | tu | – | nos | vos | – | |
— | doute | — | doutons | doutez | — |
- English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun)
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with obsolete senses
- French terms inherited from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French verbs
- French terms with usage examples
- French reflexive verbs
- French verbs with conjugation -er
- French first group verbs
- French affirmatively subjunctive-subordinating terms
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French verbs
- Old French lemmas
- Old French verbs
- Old French verbs with weak-a preterite
- Old French first group verbs
- Old French verbs ending in -er