emprunter

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French emprunter, from Old French emprunter, from Early Medieval Latin imprūntāre, from Vulgar Latin *imprūmūtāre, modified from Early Medieval Latin imprōmūtuāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.te/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

emprunter

1. to borrow (~ à (“from”))

   Antonym: prêter

   J’ai emprunté un livre à la bibliothèque. ― I borrowed a book from the library.

2. to take, to follow

   emprunter un chemin ― follow a path

Conjugation

Conjugation of emprunter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	emprunter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	empruntant /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		emprunté /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	emprunte /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃t/	empruntes /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃t/	emprunte /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃t/	empruntons /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tɔ̃/	empruntez /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.te/	empruntent /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃t/
	imperfect	empruntais /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tɛ/	empruntais /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tɛ/	empruntait /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tɛ/	empruntions /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tjɔ̃/	empruntiez /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tje/	empruntaient /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tɛ/
	past historic2	empruntai /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.te/	empruntas /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.ta/	emprunta /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.ta/	empruntâmes /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tam/	empruntâtes /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tat/	empruntèrent /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tɛʁ/
	future	emprunterai /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tʁe/	emprunteras /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tʁa/	empruntera /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tʁa/	emprunterons /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tʁɔ̃/	emprunterez /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tʁe/	emprunteront /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	emprunterais /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tʁɛ/	emprunterais /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tʁɛ/	emprunterait /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tʁɛ/	emprunterions /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	emprunteriez /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tə.ʁje/	emprunteraient /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.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	emprunte /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃t/	empruntes /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃t/	emprunte /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃t/	empruntions /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tjɔ̃/	empruntiez /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tje/	empruntent /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃t/
	imperfect2	empruntasse /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tas/	empruntasses /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tas/	empruntât /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.ta/	empruntassions /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.ta.sjɔ̃/	empruntassiez /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.ta.sje/	empruntassent /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	emprunte /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃t/	—	empruntons /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.tɔ̃/	empruntez /ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.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

• emprunt

Further reading

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

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French emprunter.

Verb

emprunter

1. to borrow

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of emprunter

infinitive	simple	emprunter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	empruntant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		emprunté
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	emprunte	empruntes	emprunte	empruntons	empruntez	empruntent
	imperfect	empruntois, empruntoys	empruntois, empruntoys	empruntoit, empruntoyt	empruntions, empruntyons	empruntiez, empruntyez	empruntoient, empruntoyent
	past historic	emprunta	empruntas	emprunta	empruntasmes	empruntastes	emprunterent
	future	emprunterai, emprunteray	emprunteras	empruntera	emprunterons	emprunterez	emprunteront
	conditional	emprunterois, emprunteroys	emprunterois, emprunteroys	emprunteroit, emprunteroyt	emprunterions, emprunteryons	emprunteriez, emprunteryez	emprunteroient, emprunteroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	emprunte	empruntes	emprunte	empruntons	empruntez	empruntent
	imperfect	empruntasse	empruntasses	empruntast	empruntassions	empruntassiez	empruntassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	emprunte	—	empruntons	empruntez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Descendants

• French: emprunter

Norman

Etymology

From Old French emprunter, from Vulgar Latin *imprūmūtāre.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Jersey)

  (file)

Verb

emprunter

1. (Jersey) to borrow

Antonyms

• prêter (“to lend”)

Derived terms

• emprunt (“loan”)
• emprunteux (“borrower”)

Old French

Etymology

From Early Medieval Latin imprūntāre, from Vulgar Latin *imprūmūtāre.

Verb

emprunter

1. to borrow

Descendants

• Middle French: emprunter
  • French: emprunter
• Norman: emprunter
• → Italian: improntare