ménager

See also: menager

French

Etymology

ménage +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /me.na.ʒe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

ménager (feminine ménagère, masculine plural ménagers, feminine plural ménagères)

1. household; cleaning

   les tâches ménagères

   the household chores

Noun

ménager m (plural ménagers, feminine ménagère)

1. (rare) househusband

   Synonym: homme au foyer

Verb

ménager

1. to husband, to conserve
2. to treat gently, treat nicely
3. to conserve, go easy on
4. (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		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
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: 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

• déménager
• emménager
• ménager la chèvre et le chou

Further reading

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