émerveiller

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French esmerveler.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.je/ ~ /e.mɛʁ.ve.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

émerveiller

1. to fascinate, amaze (strike with admiration and marvel)
2. (takes a reflexive pronoun, s'émerveiller) to marvel (at)

Usage notes

• The verb is most common in the pronominal. In the non-pronominal form, the verb is usually used in the passive or compound tenses.

Conjugation

Conjugation of émerveiller (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	émerveiller
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	émerveillant /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.jɑ̃/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		émerveillé /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.je/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	émerveille /e.mɛʁ.vɛj/	émerveilles /e.mɛʁ.vɛj/	émerveille /e.mɛʁ.vɛj/	émerveillons /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.jɔ̃/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.jɔ̃/	émerveillez /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.je/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.je/	émerveillent /e.mɛʁ.vɛj/
	imperfect	émerveillais /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.jɛ/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.jɛ/	émerveillais /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.jɛ/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.jɛ/	émerveillait /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.jɛ/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.jɛ/	émerveillions /e.mɛʁ.vɛj.jɔ̃/	émerveilliez /e.mɛʁ.vɛj.je/	émerveillaient /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.jɛ/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.jɛ/
	past historic2	émerveillai /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.je/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.je/	émerveillas /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.ja/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.ja/	émerveilla /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.ja/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.ja/	émerveillâmes /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.jam/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.jam/	émerveillâtes /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.jat/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.jat/	émerveillèrent /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.jɛʁ/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.jɛʁ/
	future	émerveillerai /e.mɛʁ.vɛj.ʁe/	émerveilleras /e.mɛʁ.vɛj.ʁa/	émerveillera /e.mɛʁ.vɛj.ʁa/	émerveillerons /e.mɛʁ.vɛj.ʁɔ̃/	émerveillerez /e.mɛʁ.vɛj.ʁe/	émerveilleront /e.mɛʁ.vɛj.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	émerveillerais /e.mɛʁ.vɛj.ʁɛ/	émerveillerais /e.mɛʁ.vɛj.ʁɛ/	émerveillerait /e.mɛʁ.vɛj.ʁɛ/	émerveillerions /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.jə.ʁjɔ̃/	émerveilleriez /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.jə.ʁje/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.jə.ʁje/	émerveilleraient /e.mɛʁ.vɛj.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	émerveille /e.mɛʁ.vɛj/	émerveilles /e.mɛʁ.vɛj/	émerveille /e.mɛʁ.vɛj/	émerveillions /e.mɛʁ.vɛj.jɔ̃/	émerveilliez /e.mɛʁ.vɛj.je/	émerveillent /e.mɛʁ.vɛj/
	imperfect2	émerveillasse /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.jas/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.jas/	émerveillasses /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.jas/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.jas/	émerveillât /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.ja/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.ja/	émerveillassions /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.ja.sjɔ̃/	émerveillassiez /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.ja.sje/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.ja.sje/	émerveillassent /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.jas/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	émerveille /e.mɛʁ.vɛj/	—	émerveillons /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.jɔ̃/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.jɔ̃/	émerveillez /e.mɛʁ.vɛ.je/ or /e.mɛʁ.ve.je/	—
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).

Related terms

• merveille

Further reading

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