séparer

See also: separer

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sēparāre, present active infinitive of sēparō. Doublet of sevrer, which was inherited.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /se.pa.ʁe/

• audio:

  (file)

Verb

séparer

1. to separate
2. to split up, to cause to come apart

Conjugation

Conjugation of séparer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	séparer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	séparant /se.pa.ʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		séparé /se.pa.ʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	sépare /se.paʁ/	sépares /se.paʁ/	sépare /se.paʁ/	séparons /se.pa.ʁɔ̃/	séparez /se.pa.ʁe/	séparent /se.paʁ/
	imperfect	séparais /se.pa.ʁɛ/	séparais /se.pa.ʁɛ/	séparait /se.pa.ʁɛ/	séparions /se.pa.ʁjɔ̃/	sépariez /se.pa.ʁje/	séparaient /se.pa.ʁɛ/
	past historic2	séparai /se.pa.ʁe/	séparas /se.pa.ʁa/	sépara /se.pa.ʁa/	séparâmes /se.pa.ʁam/	séparâtes /se.pa.ʁat/	séparèrent /se.pa.ʁɛʁ/
	future	séparerai /se.pa.ʁə.ʁe/	sépareras /se.pa.ʁə.ʁa/	séparera /se.pa.ʁə.ʁa/	séparerons /se.pa.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/	séparerez /se.pa.ʁə.ʁe/	sépareront /se.pa.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	séparerais /se.pa.ʁə.ʁɛ/	séparerais /se.pa.ʁə.ʁɛ/	séparerait /se.pa.ʁə.ʁɛ/	séparerions /se.pa.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	sépareriez /se.pa.ʁə.ʁje/	sépareraient /se.pa.ʁə.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	sépare /se.paʁ/	sépares /se.paʁ/	sépare /se.paʁ/	séparions /se.pa.ʁjɔ̃/	sépariez /se.pa.ʁje/	séparent /se.paʁ/
	imperfect2	séparasse /se.pa.ʁas/	séparasses /se.pa.ʁas/	séparât /se.pa.ʁa/	séparassions /se.pa.ʁa.sjɔ̃/	séparassiez /se.pa.ʁa.sje/	séparassent /se.pa.ʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	sépare /se.paʁ/	—	séparons /se.pa.ʁɔ̃/	séparez /se.pa.ʁe/	—
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

• séparation
• séparatiste

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• répares, réparés, repéras