lettrer

French

Etymology

From lettre +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɛ.tʁe/ ~ /le.tʁe/
• Rhymes: -e

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

lettrer

1. (transitive, archaic) to send a letter (to someone)
2. (transitive) to educate, to teach to read and write

Conjugation

Conjugation of lettrer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	lettrer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	lettrant /lɛ.tʁɑ̃/ or /le.tʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		lettré /lɛ.tʁe/ or /le.tʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	lettre /lɛtʁ/	lettres /lɛtʁ/	lettre /lɛtʁ/	lettrons /lɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /le.tʁɔ̃/	lettrez /lɛ.tʁe/ or /le.tʁe/	lettrent /lɛtʁ/
	imperfect	lettrais /lɛ.tʁɛ/ or /le.tʁɛ/	lettrais /lɛ.tʁɛ/ or /le.tʁɛ/	lettrait /lɛ.tʁɛ/ or /le.tʁɛ/	lettrions /lɛ.tʁi.jɔ̃/ or /le.tʁi.jɔ̃/	lettriez /lɛ.tʁi.je/ or /le.tʁi.je/	lettraient /lɛ.tʁɛ/ or /le.tʁɛ/
	past historic2	lettrai /lɛ.tʁe/ or /le.tʁe/	lettras /lɛ.tʁa/ or /le.tʁa/	lettra /lɛ.tʁa/ or /le.tʁa/	lettrâmes /lɛ.tʁam/ or /le.tʁam/	lettrâtes /lɛ.tʁat/ or /le.tʁat/	lettrèrent /lɛ.tʁɛʁ/ or /le.tʁɛʁ/
	future	lettrerai /lɛ.tʁə.ʁe/ or /le.tʁə.ʁe/	lettreras /lɛ.tʁə.ʁa/ or /le.tʁə.ʁa/	lettrera /lɛ.tʁə.ʁa/ or /le.tʁə.ʁa/	lettrerons /lɛ.tʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /le.tʁə.ʁɔ̃/	lettrerez /lɛ.tʁə.ʁe/ or /le.tʁə.ʁe/	lettreront /lɛ.tʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /le.tʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	lettrerais /lɛ.tʁə.ʁɛ/ or /le.tʁə.ʁɛ/	lettrerais /lɛ.tʁə.ʁɛ/ or /le.tʁə.ʁɛ/	lettrerait /lɛ.tʁə.ʁɛ/ or /le.tʁə.ʁɛ/	lettrerions /lɛ.tʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /le.tʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	lettreriez /lɛ.tʁə.ʁje/ or /le.tʁə.ʁje/	lettreraient /lɛ.tʁə.ʁɛ/ or /le.tʁə.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	lettre /lɛtʁ/	lettres /lɛtʁ/	lettre /lɛtʁ/	lettrions /lɛ.tʁi.jɔ̃/ or /le.tʁi.jɔ̃/	lettriez /lɛ.tʁi.je/ or /le.tʁi.je/	lettrent /lɛtʁ/
	imperfect2	lettrasse /lɛ.tʁas/ or /le.tʁas/	lettrasses /lɛ.tʁas/ or /le.tʁas/	lettrât /lɛ.tʁa/ or /le.tʁa/	lettrassions /lɛ.tʁa.sjɔ̃/ or /le.tʁa.sjɔ̃/	lettrassiez /lɛ.tʁa.sje/ or /le.tʁa.sje/	lettrassent /lɛ.tʁas/ or /le.tʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	lettre /lɛtʁ/	—	lettrons /lɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /le.tʁɔ̃/	lettrez /lɛ.tʁe/ or /le.tʁe/	—
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).

Further reading

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