acheter

French

Alternative forms

• achepter (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Old French acheter, from Vulgar Latin *accaptāre (“accept, purchase”). Compare Norman acater, English cater.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aʃ.te/, /a.ʃə.te/

• Audio (France, Paris)

  (file)

Verb

acheter

1. to purchase; buy

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 achète and the third-person singular future indicative il achètera.

Conjugation of acheter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	acheter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	achetant /aʃ.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		acheté /aʃ.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	achète /a.ʃɛt/	achètes /a.ʃɛt/	achète /a.ʃɛt/	achetons /aʃ.tɔ̃/	achetez /aʃ.te/	achètent /a.ʃɛt/
	imperfect	achetais /aʃ.tɛ/	achetais /aʃ.tɛ/	achetait /aʃ.tɛ/	achetions /a.ʃə.tjɔ̃/	achetiez /a.ʃə.tje/	achetaient /aʃ.tɛ/
	past historic2	achetai /aʃ.te/	achetas /aʃ.ta/	acheta /aʃ.ta/	achetâmes /aʃ.tam/	achetâtes /aʃ.tat/	achetèrent /aʃ.tɛʁ/
	future	achèterai /a.ʃɛ.tʁe/ or /a.ʃe.tʁe/	achèteras /a.ʃɛ.tʁa/ or /a.ʃe.tʁa/	achètera /a.ʃɛ.tʁa/ or /a.ʃe.tʁa/	achèterons /a.ʃɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /a.ʃe.tʁɔ̃/	achèterez /a.ʃɛ.tʁe/ or /a.ʃe.tʁe/	achèteront /a.ʃɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /a.ʃe.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	achèterais /a.ʃɛ.tʁɛ/ or /a.ʃe.tʁɛ/	achèterais /a.ʃɛ.tʁɛ/ or /a.ʃe.tʁɛ/	achèterait /a.ʃɛ.tʁɛ/ or /a.ʃe.tʁɛ/	achèterions /a.ʃɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /a.ʃe.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	achèteriez /a.ʃɛ.tə.ʁje/ or /a.ʃe.tə.ʁje/	achèteraient /a.ʃɛ.tʁɛ/ or /a.ʃe.tʁɛ/
(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	achète /a.ʃɛt/	achètes /a.ʃɛt/	achète /a.ʃɛt/	achetions /a.ʃə.tjɔ̃/	achetiez /a.ʃə.tje/	achètent /a.ʃɛt/
	imperfect2	achetasse /aʃ.tas/	achetasses /aʃ.tas/	achetât /aʃ.ta/	achetassions /aʃ.ta.sjɔ̃/	achetassiez /aʃ.ta.sje/	achetassent /aʃ.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	achète /a.ʃɛt/	—	achetons /aʃ.tɔ̃/	achetez /aʃ.te/	—
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

• acheter chat en poche

Related terms

• achat

Descendants

• → Esperanto: aĉeti

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• châtrée, racheté, rachète, trachée

Old French

Alternative forms

• achater
• acater (Old Northern French)

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *accaptāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /at͡ʃəˈteːɾ/

Verb

acheter

1. to purchase; buy

   Synonym: porchacier

   Antonym: vendre

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-ts, *-tt are modified to z, t. This verb has a stressed present stem achat distinct from the unstressed stem achet. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		acheter			avoir acheté
gerund		en achetant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		achetant
past participle		acheté
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	achat	achates	achate	achetons	achetez	achatent
	imperfect	achetoie, acheteie, achetoe, acheteve	achetoies, acheteies, achetoes, acheteves	achetoit, acheteit, achetot, acheteve	achetiiens, achetiens	achetiiez, achetiez	achetoient, acheteient, achetoent, achetevent
	preterite	achetai	achetas	acheta	achetames	achetastes	acheterent
	future	acheterai	acheteras	achetera	acheterons	acheteroiz, achetereiz, acheterez	acheteront
	conditional	acheteroie, achetereie	acheteroies, achetereies	acheteroit, achetereit	acheteriiens, acheteriens	acheteriiez, acheteriez	acheteroient, achetereient
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	achat	achaz	achat	achetons	achetez	achatent
	imperfect	achetasse	achetasses	achetast	achetissons, achetissiens	achetissoiz, achetissez, achetissiez	achetassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	achate	—	achetons	achetez	—

Descendants

• Bourguignon: aichetai
• Champenois: aitcheter
• French: acheter, achepter
  • → Esperanto: aĉeti
• Norman: acataer, acataïr; acater
• Picard: acater
• Walloon: atchter
• →⇒ Middle English: acatour
  • English: cater, acater, acater