raconter

French

Etymology

Old French raconter, from re- +‎ aconter, from conter (“to tell (a story, etc.)”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁa.kɔ̃.te/

• audio:

  (file)

Verb

raconter

1. to recount; to tell; to narrate

Conjugation

Conjugation of raconter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	raconter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	racontant /ʁa.kɔ̃.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		raconté /ʁa.kɔ̃.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	raconte /ʁa.kɔ̃t/	racontes /ʁa.kɔ̃t/	raconte /ʁa.kɔ̃t/	racontons /ʁa.kɔ̃.tɔ̃/	racontez /ʁa.kɔ̃.te/	racontent /ʁa.kɔ̃t/
	imperfect	racontais /ʁa.kɔ̃.tɛ/	racontais /ʁa.kɔ̃.tɛ/	racontait /ʁa.kɔ̃.tɛ/	racontions /ʁa.kɔ̃.tjɔ̃/	racontiez /ʁa.kɔ̃.tje/	racontaient /ʁa.kɔ̃.tɛ/
	past historic2	racontai /ʁa.kɔ̃.te/	racontas /ʁa.kɔ̃.ta/	raconta /ʁa.kɔ̃.ta/	racontâmes /ʁa.kɔ̃.tam/	racontâtes /ʁa.kɔ̃.tat/	racontèrent /ʁa.kɔ̃.tɛʁ/
	future	raconterai /ʁa.kɔ̃.tʁe/	raconteras /ʁa.kɔ̃.tʁa/	racontera /ʁa.kɔ̃.tʁa/	raconterons /ʁa.kɔ̃.tʁɔ̃/	raconterez /ʁa.kɔ̃.tʁe/	raconteront /ʁa.kɔ̃.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	raconterais /ʁa.kɔ̃.tʁɛ/	raconterais /ʁa.kɔ̃.tʁɛ/	raconterait /ʁa.kɔ̃.tʁɛ/	raconterions /ʁa.kɔ̃.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	raconteriez /ʁa.kɔ̃.tə.ʁje/	raconteraient /ʁa.kɔ̃.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	raconte /ʁa.kɔ̃t/	racontes /ʁa.kɔ̃t/	raconte /ʁa.kɔ̃t/	racontions /ʁa.kɔ̃.tjɔ̃/	racontiez /ʁa.kɔ̃.tje/	racontent /ʁa.kɔ̃t/
	imperfect2	racontasse /ʁa.kɔ̃.tas/	racontasses /ʁa.kɔ̃.tas/	racontât /ʁa.kɔ̃.ta/	racontassions /ʁa.kɔ̃.ta.sjɔ̃/	racontassiez /ʁa.kɔ̃.ta.sje/	racontassent /ʁa.kɔ̃.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	raconte /ʁa.kɔ̃t/	—	racontons /ʁa.kɔ̃.tɔ̃/	racontez /ʁa.kɔ̃.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).

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• contrera

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Norman

Etymology

Old French raconter, from re- +‎ aconter, from conter (“to tell (a story, etc.)”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (Jersey):

  (file)

Verb

raconter

1. (Jersey) to relate, recount, narrate

Derived terms

• raconteux (“narrator”)