ménager
See also: menager
French
Etymology
Pronunciation
Adjective
ménager (feminine ménagère, masculine plural ménagers, feminine plural ménagères)
Noun
ménager m (plural ménagers, feminine ménagère)
- (rare) househusband
- Synonym: homme au foyer
Verb
ménager
- to husband, to conserve
- to treat gently, treat nicely
- to conserve, go easy on
- (reflexive) to go easy, take it easy
Conjugation
This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written ménage- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a "soft" /ʒ/ and not a "hard" /ɡ/). This spelling-change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.
Conjugation of ménager (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive | simple | ménager | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
present participle or gerund1 | simple | ménageant /me.na.ʒɑ̃/ | |||||
compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
past participle | ménagé /me.na.ʒe/ | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | ménage /me.naʒ/ |
ménages /me.naʒ/ |
ménage /me.naʒ/ |
ménageons /me.na.ʒɔ̃/ |
ménagez /me.na.ʒe/ |
ménagent /me.naʒ/ |
imperfect | ménageais /me.na.ʒɛ/ |
ménageais /me.na.ʒɛ/ |
ménageait /me.na.ʒɛ/ |
ménagions /me.na.ʒjɔ̃/ |
ménagiez /me.na.ʒje/ |
ménageaient /me.na.ʒɛ/ | |
past historic2 | ménageai /me.na.ʒe/ |
ménageas /me.na.ʒa/ |
ménagea /me.na.ʒa/ |
ménageâmes /me.na.ʒam/ |
ménageâtes /me.na.ʒat/ |
ménagèrent /me.na.ʒɛʁ/ | |
future | ménagerai /me.naʒ.ʁe/ |
ménageras /me.naʒ.ʁa/ |
ménagera /me.naʒ.ʁa/ |
ménagerons /me.naʒ.ʁɔ̃/ |
ménagerez /me.naʒ.ʁe/ |
ménageront /me.naʒ.ʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | ménagerais /me.naʒ.ʁɛ/ |
ménagerais /me.naʒ.ʁɛ/ |
ménagerait /me.naʒ.ʁɛ/ |
ménagerions /me.na.ʒə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
ménageriez /me.na.ʒə.ʁje/ |
ménageraient /me.naʒ.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 | ménage /me.naʒ/ |
ménages /me.naʒ/ |
ménage /me.naʒ/ |
ménagions /me.na.ʒjɔ̃/ |
ménagiez /me.na.ʒje/ |
ménagent /me.naʒ/ |
imperfect2 | ménageasse /me.na.ʒas/ |
ménageasses /me.na.ʒas/ |
ménageât /me.na.ʒa/ |
ménageassions /me.na.ʒa.sjɔ̃/ |
ménageassiez /me.na.ʒa.sje/ |
ménageassent /me.na.ʒas/ | |
(compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | ménage /me.naʒ/ |
— | ménageons /me.na.ʒɔ̃/ |
ménagez /me.na.ʒe/ |
— | |
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
Further reading
- “ménager”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Categories:
- French terms suffixed with -er
- French 3-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French adjectives
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French terms with rare senses
- French verbs
- French reflexive verbs
- French verbs with conjugation -ger
- French first group verbs