gêner

See also: gener

French

Etymology

From Middle French genner, from Old French gehisner, derivative of gehine (“torture resulting from confession, embarrassment”), of Frankish origin. Synchronically analysable as gêne +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒɛ.ne/, /ʒe.ne/

• audio

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Verb

gêner

1. to hinder, hamper, bother
2. to bother, annoy, irritate
3. to embarrass

   Arrête de me regarder comme ça, ça me gêne.

4. (reflexive) to be bothered about something

   Ne te gêne pas, surtout ! – Don't mind me!

   Je vais me gêner, tiens ! – See if I care!

Conjugation

Conjugation of gêner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	gêner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	gênant /ʒɛ.nɑ̃/ or /ʒe.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		gêné /ʒɛ.ne/ or /ʒe.ne/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	gêne /ʒɛn/	gênes /ʒɛn/	gêne /ʒɛn/	gênons /ʒɛ.nɔ̃/ or /ʒe.nɔ̃/	gênez /ʒɛ.ne/ or /ʒe.ne/	gênent /ʒɛn/
	imperfect	gênais /ʒɛ.nɛ/ or /ʒe.nɛ/	gênais /ʒɛ.nɛ/ or /ʒe.nɛ/	gênait /ʒɛ.nɛ/ or /ʒe.nɛ/	gênions /ʒɛ.njɔ̃/ or /ʒe.njɔ̃/	gêniez /ʒɛ.nje/ or /ʒe.nje/	gênaient /ʒɛ.nɛ/ or /ʒe.nɛ/
	past historic2	gênai /ʒɛ.ne/ or /ʒe.ne/	gênas /ʒɛ.na/ or /ʒe.na/	gêna /ʒɛ.na/ or /ʒe.na/	gênâmes /ʒɛ.nam/ or /ʒe.nam/	gênâtes /ʒɛ.nat/ or /ʒe.nat/	gênèrent /ʒɛ.nɛʁ/ or /ʒe.nɛʁ/
	future	gênerai /ʒɛn.ʁe/	gêneras /ʒɛn.ʁa/	gênera /ʒɛn.ʁa/	gênerons /ʒɛn.ʁɔ̃/	gênerez /ʒɛn.ʁe/	gêneront /ʒɛn.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	gênerais /ʒɛn.ʁɛ/	gênerais /ʒɛn.ʁɛ/	gênerait /ʒɛn.ʁɛ/	gênerions /ʒɛ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ʒe.nə.ʁjɔ̃/	gêneriez /ʒɛ.nə.ʁje/ or /ʒe.nə.ʁje/	gêneraient /ʒɛn.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	gêne /ʒɛn/	gênes /ʒɛn/	gêne /ʒɛn/	gênions /ʒɛ.njɔ̃/ or /ʒe.njɔ̃/	gêniez /ʒɛ.nje/ or /ʒe.nje/	gênent /ʒɛn/
	imperfect2	gênasse /ʒɛ.nas/ or /ʒe.nas/	gênasses /ʒɛ.nas/ or /ʒe.nas/	gênât /ʒɛ.na/ or /ʒe.na/	gênassions /ʒɛ.na.sjɔ̃/ or /ʒe.na.sjɔ̃/	gênassiez /ʒɛ.na.sje/ or /ʒe.na.sje/	gênassent /ʒɛ.nas/ or /ʒe.nas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	gêne /ʒɛn/	—	gênons /ʒɛ.nɔ̃/ or /ʒe.nɔ̃/	gênez /ʒɛ.ne/ or /ʒe.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).

Derived terms

• gênant

Descendants

• German: genieren
• Esperanto: ĝeni

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• genre
• nègre
• règne, régné