subtiliser

French

Etymology

subtil +‎ -iser

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /syp.ti.li.ze/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Verb

subtiliser

1. (transitive, colloquial) to snatch; take possession of

   subtiliser la montre à l'homme ― snatch the watch off the man

   • 2024 June 1, Roxana Azimi, “L’affaire Deborah de Robertis divise le monde de l’art”, in Le Monde‎^[1]:

     Pendant que deux complices taguaient cinq œuvres du slogan « #metoo » , dont L’Origine du Monde – protégée par une vitre –, l’artiste subtilisait une broderie d’Annette Messager, portant l’inscription « Je pense donc je suce ».

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (transitive, dated) synonym of volatiliser

Conjugation

Conjugation of subtiliser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	subtiliser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	subtilisant /syp.ti.li.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		subtilisé /syp.ti.li.ze/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	subtilise /syp.ti.liz/	subtilises /syp.ti.liz/	subtilise /syp.ti.liz/	subtilisons /syp.ti.li.zɔ̃/	subtilisez /syp.ti.li.ze/	subtilisent /syp.ti.liz/
	imperfect	subtilisais /syp.ti.li.zɛ/	subtilisais /syp.ti.li.zɛ/	subtilisait /syp.ti.li.zɛ/	subtilisions /syp.ti.li.zjɔ̃/	subtilisiez /syp.ti.li.zje/	subtilisaient /syp.ti.li.zɛ/
	past historic2	subtilisai /syp.ti.li.ze/	subtilisas /syp.ti.li.za/	subtilisa /syp.ti.li.za/	subtilisâmes /syp.ti.li.zam/	subtilisâtes /syp.ti.li.zat/	subtilisèrent /syp.ti.li.zɛʁ/
	future	subtiliserai /syp.ti.liz.ʁe/	subtiliseras /syp.ti.liz.ʁa/	subtilisera /syp.ti.liz.ʁa/	subtiliserons /syp.ti.liz.ʁɔ̃/	subtiliserez /syp.ti.liz.ʁe/	subtiliseront /syp.ti.liz.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	subtiliserais /syp.ti.liz.ʁɛ/	subtiliserais /syp.ti.liz.ʁɛ/	subtiliserait /syp.ti.liz.ʁɛ/	subtiliserions /syp.ti.li.zə.ʁjɔ̃/	subtiliseriez /syp.ti.li.zə.ʁje/	subtiliseraient /syp.ti.liz.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	subtilise /syp.ti.liz/	subtilises /syp.ti.liz/	subtilise /syp.ti.liz/	subtilisions /syp.ti.li.zjɔ̃/	subtilisiez /syp.ti.li.zje/	subtilisent /syp.ti.liz/
	imperfect2	subtilisasse /syp.ti.li.zas/	subtilisasses /syp.ti.li.zas/	subtilisât /syp.ti.li.za/	subtilisassions /syp.ti.li.za.sjɔ̃/	subtilisassiez /syp.ti.li.za.sje/	subtilisassent /syp.ti.li.zas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	subtilise /syp.ti.liz/	—	subtilisons /syp.ti.li.zɔ̃/	subtilisez /syp.ti.li.ze/	—
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

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