taire

French

Etymology

From Middle French taire, from Old French taire, taisir, from Latin tacēre, present active infinitive of taceō, from Proto-Italic *takēō, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *tak- or *tHk-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛʁ/

• Audio (France, Paris):

  (file)

• Homophones: ter, terre, terrent, terres
• Rhymes: -ɛr

Verb

taire

1. (transitive) to quieten, to shut up, to silence

   Faites taire vos enfants!

   Shut your children up!

2. (reflexive, se taire) to shut up (one's self), to be quiet, to fall silent, to stop talking

   Tais-toi!

   Quiet!

   • 1837, Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche‎^{fr.Wikisource}, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Volume I, Chapter XXIX:

     Elle se tut en achevant ces paroles, et la rougeur qui couvrit alors son visage fit clairement connaître les regrets et la confusion dont son âme était remplie.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

     She fell silent on finishing these words, and the redness splashed across her face made perfectly clear the regrets and confusion which filled up her soul.

Conjugation

Conjugation of taire (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	taire
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	taisant /tɛ.zɑ̃/ or /te.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		tu /ty/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tais /tɛ/	tais /tɛ/	tait /tɛ/	taisons /tɛ.zɔ̃/ or /te.zɔ̃/	taisez /tɛ.ze/ or /te.ze/	taisent /tɛz/
	imperfect	taisais /tɛ.zɛ/ or /te.zɛ/	taisais /tɛ.zɛ/ or /te.zɛ/	taisait /tɛ.zɛ/ or /te.zɛ/	taisions /tɛ.zjɔ̃/ or /te.zjɔ̃/	taisiez /tɛ.zje/ or /te.zje/	taisaient /tɛ.zɛ/ or /te.zɛ/
	past historic2	tus /ty/	tus /ty/	tut /ty/	tûmes /tym/	tûtes /tyt/	turent /tyʁ/
	future	tairai /tɛ.ʁe/ or /te.ʁe/	tairas /tɛ.ʁa/ or /te.ʁa/	taira /tɛ.ʁa/ or /te.ʁa/	tairons /tɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /te.ʁɔ̃/	tairez /tɛ.ʁe/ or /te.ʁe/	tairont /tɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /te.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	tairais /tɛ.ʁɛ/ or /te.ʁɛ/	tairais /tɛ.ʁɛ/ or /te.ʁɛ/	tairait /tɛ.ʁɛ/ or /te.ʁɛ/	tairions /tɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /te.ʁjɔ̃/	tairiez /tɛ.ʁje/ or /te.ʁje/	tairaient /tɛ.ʁɛ/ or /te.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	taise /tɛz/	taises /tɛz/	taise /tɛz/	taisions /tɛ.zjɔ̃/ or /te.zjɔ̃/	taisiez /tɛ.zje/ or /te.zje/	taisent /tɛz/
	imperfect2	tusse /tys/	tusses /tys/	tût /ty/	tussions /ty.sjɔ̃/	tussiez /ty.sje/	tussent /tys/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tais /tɛ/	—	taisons /tɛ.zɔ̃/ or /te.zɔ̃/	taisez /tɛ.ze/ or /te.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).

Antonyms

• dire
• parler
• répliquer

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• aitre, aître, arité, étira, itéra

---

Old French

Verb

taire

1. alternative infinitive of taisir

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb ends in a palatal stem, so there is an extra i before the e of some endings. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of taire (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		taire			avoir teü
gerund		en taisant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		taisant
past participle		teü
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	taz, tais	tais	taist	taisons	taisiez	taisent
	imperfect	taisoie, taiseie	taisoies, taiseies	taisoit, taiseit	taisiiens, taisiens	taisiiez, taisiez	taisoient, taiseient
	preterite	toi	teüs	tot	teümes	teüstes	torent
	future	tairai	tairas	taira	tairons	tairoiz, taireiz, tairez	tairont
	conditional	tairoie, taireie	tairoies, taireies	tairoit, taireit	tairiiens, tairiens	tairiiez, tairiez	tairoient, taireient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	tace, taise	taces, taises	tace, taise	taciens, taçons, taisiens, taisons	taciez, taisiez	tacent, taisent
	imperfect	teüsse	teüsses	teüst	teüssons, teüssiens	teüssoiz, teüssez, teüssiez	teüssent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	tais	—	taisons	taisiez	—