étonner

See also: êtonner

French

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /e.tɔ.ne/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

étonner

1. 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

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		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
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: 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

• tu m’étonnes

Related terms

• étonnant
• étonné
• étonnement

Further reading

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