étonner
See also: êtonner
French edit
Etymology edit
From Middle French estonner, from Old French estoner (“to be dizzy due to a violent blow”), of obscure origin. Possibly from Old Frankish *stunōn (“to make a loud sound”), from Proto-Germanic *stunōną (“to make a sound, groan”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ten- (“to thunder, rustle, drone, groan”). Cognate with Old English stunian (“to crash, make a loud sound”) (see stun); or from a hypothetical Latin *extonare (“to thunder out”) from ex (“out”) + tonare (“to thunder”), ultimately from the same Proto-Indo-European root; or a fusion of both.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
étonner
- to surprise
- Ce qui m’étonne, c’est qu’il n’en dise rien. ― What surprises me is that he isn't saying anything about it.
Conjugation edit
Conjugation of étonner (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | étonner | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | étonnant /e.tɔ.nɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | étonné /e.tɔ.ne/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | étonne /e.tɔn/ |
étonnes /e.tɔn/ |
étonne /e.tɔn/ |
étonnons /e.tɔ.nɔ̃/ |
étonnez /e.tɔ.ne/ |
étonnent /e.tɔn/ |
| imperfect | étonnais /e.tɔ.nɛ/ |
étonnais /e.tɔ.nɛ/ |
étonnait /e.tɔ.nɛ/ |
étonnions /e.tɔ.njɔ̃/ |
étonniez /e.tɔ.nje/ |
étonnaient /e.tɔ.nɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | étonnai /e.tɔ.ne/ |
étonnas /e.tɔ.na/ |
étonna /e.tɔ.na/ |
étonnâmes /e.tɔ.nam/ |
étonnâtes /e.tɔ.nat/ |
étonnèrent /e.tɔ.nɛʁ/ | |
| future | étonnerai /e.tɔn.ʁe/ |
étonneras /e.tɔn.ʁa/ |
étonnera /e.tɔn.ʁa/ |
étonnerons /e.tɔn.ʁɔ̃/ |
étonnerez /e.tɔn.ʁe/ |
étonneront /e.tɔn.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | étonnerais /e.tɔn.ʁɛ/ |
étonnerais /e.tɔn.ʁɛ/ |
étonnerait /e.tɔn.ʁɛ/ |
étonnerions /e.tɔ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
étonneriez /e.tɔ.nə.ʁje/ |
étonneraient /e.tɔn.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 | étonne /e.tɔn/ |
étonnes /e.tɔn/ |
étonne /e.tɔn/ |
étonnions /e.tɔ.njɔ̃/ |
étonniez /e.tɔ.nje/ |
étonnent /e.tɔn/ |
| imperfect2 | étonnasse /e.tɔ.nas/ |
étonnasses /e.tɔ.nas/ |
étonnât /e.tɔ.na/ |
étonnassions /e.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃/ |
étonnassiez /e.tɔ.na.sje/ |
étonnassent /e.tɔ.nas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | étonne /e.tɔn/ |
— | étonnons /e.tɔ.nɔ̃/ |
étonnez /e.tɔ.ne/ |
— | |
| 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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Further reading edit
- “étonner”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.