marteler

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French marteler, from martel (old form of marteau (“hammer”)) +‎ -er. Compare to English martel, Dutch martelen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maʁ.tə.le/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

marteler (transitive)

1. to strike with a hammer; to hammer
2. to shape or forge with a hammer
   • 2014, Thierry Declecq, Mémoires d'un tas de charbon:

     De retour dans son atelier, il inspecta pour la mille et unième fois les lettres qu’il avait si langoureusement martelées.

     Returning to his workshop, he inspected for the thousand and first time the letters that he had so laborously carved.

3. to emphasise individual elements such as words or notes

   Il martèle chaque syllabe. ― He stresses every syllable.

4. to repeat insistently
   • 2023, “Guerre en Ukraine : Poutine qualifie Zelensky de «honte pour le peuple juif»”, in Le Figaro‎^[1]:

     Vladimir Poutine a une fois encore accusé le président ukrainien de «couvrir ces salauds de néonazis» et de traiter en héros des collaborateurs des nazis durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. «Pourquoi on ne nous écoute pas ?», a-t-il demandé. «Nous sommes obligés de lutter contre ça», a-t-il martelé.

     Vladimir Putin once again accused the Ukrainian president of "covering for these Neo-Nazi wretches" and of treating Nazi collaborators during the Second World War as heroes. "Why do people not listen to us?" He asked. "We must struggle against this", he repeated.

5. (figurative) to trouble; to bother; to worry

   Cette affaire me martèle. ― This business bothers me.

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like parler, except the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-, as in the third-person singular present indicative il martèle and the third-person singular future indicative il martèlera.

Conjugation of marteler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	marteler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	martelant /maʁ.tə.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		martelé /maʁ.tə.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	martèle /maʁ.tɛl/	martèles /maʁ.tɛl/	martèle /maʁ.tɛl/	martelons /maʁ.tə.lɔ̃/	martelez /maʁ.tə.le/	martèlent /maʁ.tɛl/
	imperfect	martelais /maʁ.tə.lɛ/	martelais /maʁ.tə.lɛ/	martelait /maʁ.tə.lɛ/	martelions /maʁ.tə.ljɔ̃/	marteliez /maʁ.tə.lje/	martelaient /maʁ.tə.lɛ/
	past historic2	martelai /maʁ.tə.le/	martelas /maʁ.tə.la/	martela /maʁ.tə.la/	martelâmes /maʁ.tə.lam/	martelâtes /maʁ.tə.lat/	martelèrent /maʁ.tə.lɛʁ/
	future	martèlerai /maʁ.tɛl.ʁe/	martèleras /maʁ.tɛl.ʁa/	martèlera /maʁ.tɛl.ʁa/	martèlerons /maʁ.tɛl.ʁɔ̃/	martèlerez /maʁ.tɛl.ʁe/	martèleront /maʁ.tɛl.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	martèlerais /maʁ.tɛl.ʁɛ/	martèlerais /maʁ.tɛl.ʁɛ/	martèlerait /maʁ.tɛl.ʁɛ/	martèlerions /maʁ.tɛ.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /maʁ.te.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	martèleriez /maʁ.tɛ.lə.ʁje/ or /maʁ.te.lə.ʁje/	martèleraient /maʁ.tɛl.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	martèle /maʁ.tɛl/	martèles /maʁ.tɛl/	martèle /maʁ.tɛl/	martelions /maʁ.tə.ljɔ̃/	marteliez /maʁ.tə.lje/	martèlent /maʁ.tɛl/
	imperfect2	martelasse /maʁ.tə.las/	martelasses /maʁ.tə.las/	martelât /maʁ.tə.la/	martelassions /maʁ.tə.la.sjɔ̃/	martelassiez /maʁ.tə.la.sje/	martelassent /maʁ.tə.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	martèle /maʁ.tɛl/	—	martelons /maʁ.tə.lɔ̃/	martelez /maʁ.tə.le/	—
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

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

Old French

Etymology

martel +‎ -er

Verb

marteler

1. to strike with a hammer; to hammer
2. to shape or forge with a hammer

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-els, *-elt are modified to eaus, eaut. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		marteler			avoir martelé
gerund		en martelant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		martelant
past participle		martelé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	martel	marteles	martele	martelons	martelez	martelent
	imperfect	marteloie, marteleie, marteloe, marteleve	marteloies, marteleies, marteloes, marteleves	marteloit, marteleit, martelot, marteleve	marteliiens, marteliens	marteliiez, marteliez	marteloient, marteleient, marteloent, martelevent
	preterite	martelai	martelas	martela	martelames	martelastes	martelerent
	future	martelerai	marteleras	martelera	martelerons	marteleroiz, martelereiz, martelerez	marteleront
	conditional	marteleroie, martelereie	marteleroies, martelereies	marteleroit, martelereit	marteleriiens, marteleriens	marteleriiez, marteleriez	marteleroient, martelereient
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	martel	marteaus	marteaut	martelons	martelez	martelent
	imperfect	martelasse	martelasses	martelast	martelissons, martelissiens	martelissoiz, martelissez, martelissiez	martelassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	martele	—	martelons	martelez	—

Descendants

• French: marteler