témoigner

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French tesmoigner, from Old French tesmoignier, from tesmoing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /te.mwa.ɲe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

témoigner

1. (intransitive) to witness, to be a witness at or for
2. (transitive) to demonstrate, show, or prove something

   Synonym: démontrer

   Je leur ai acheté un petit cadeau pour leur témoigner ma gratitude.

   I bought them a little gift to show my gratitude.

Conjugation

Conjugation of témoigner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	témoigner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	témoignant /te.mwa.ɲɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		témoigné /te.mwa.ɲe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	témoigne /te.mwaɲ/	témoignes /te.mwaɲ/	témoigne /te.mwaɲ/	témoignons /te.mwa.ɲɔ̃/	témoignez /te.mwa.ɲe/	témoignent /te.mwaɲ/
	imperfect	témoignais /te.mwa.ɲɛ/	témoignais /te.mwa.ɲɛ/	témoignait /te.mwa.ɲɛ/	témoignions /te.mwa.ɲjɔ̃/	témoigniez /te.mwa.ɲje/	témoignaient /te.mwa.ɲɛ/
	past historic2	témoignai /te.mwa.ɲe/	témoignas /te.mwa.ɲa/	témoigna /te.mwa.ɲa/	témoignâmes /te.mwa.ɲam/	témoignâtes /te.mwa.ɲat/	témoignèrent /te.mwa.ɲɛʁ/
	future	témoignerai /te.mwa.ɲə.ʁe/	témoigneras /te.mwa.ɲə.ʁa/	témoignera /te.mwa.ɲə.ʁa/	témoignerons /te.mwa.ɲə.ʁɔ̃/	témoignerez /te.mwa.ɲə.ʁe/	témoigneront /te.mwa.ɲə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	témoignerais /te.mwa.ɲə.ʁɛ/	témoignerais /te.mwa.ɲə.ʁɛ/	témoignerait /te.mwa.ɲə.ʁɛ/	témoignerions /te.mwa.ɲə.ʁjɔ̃/	témoigneriez /te.mwa.ɲə.ʁje/	témoigneraient /te.mwa.ɲə.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	témoigne /te.mwaɲ/	témoignes /te.mwaɲ/	témoigne /te.mwaɲ/	témoignions /te.mwa.ɲjɔ̃/	témoigniez /te.mwa.ɲje/	témoignent /te.mwaɲ/
	imperfect2	témoignasse /te.mwa.ɲas/	témoignasses /te.mwa.ɲas/	témoignât /te.mwa.ɲa/	témoignassions /te.mwa.ɲa.sjɔ̃/	témoignassiez /te.mwa.ɲa.sje/	témoignassent /te.mwa.ɲas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	témoigne /te.mwaɲ/	—	témoignons /te.mwa.ɲɔ̃/	témoignez /te.mwa.ɲe/	—
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

• témoignage
• témoin

Further reading

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