capoter

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French capote, from cape.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.pɔ.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

Verb

capoter

1. (intransitive) to overturn (of a boat, car etc.)
2. (intransitive) to derail
3. (figurative, intransitive) to fail

   Synonyms: annuler, échouer

   faire capoter un plan

   to make a plan fail

4. (intransitive, Quebec) to flounder
5. (intransitive, Quebec, colloquial) to freak out, to lose it

Conjugation

Conjugation of capoter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	capoter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	capotant /ka.pɔ.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		capoté /ka.pɔ.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	capote /ka.pɔt/	capotes /ka.pɔt/	capote /ka.pɔt/	capotons /ka.pɔ.tɔ̃/	capotez /ka.pɔ.te/	capotent /ka.pɔt/
	imperfect	capotais /ka.pɔ.tɛ/	capotais /ka.pɔ.tɛ/	capotait /ka.pɔ.tɛ/	capotions /ka.pɔ.tjɔ̃/	capotiez /ka.pɔ.tje/	capotaient /ka.pɔ.tɛ/
	past historic2	capotai /ka.pɔ.te/	capotas /ka.pɔ.ta/	capota /ka.pɔ.ta/	capotâmes /ka.pɔ.tam/	capotâtes /ka.pɔ.tat/	capotèrent /ka.pɔ.tɛʁ/
	future	capoterai /ka.pɔ.tʁe/	capoteras /ka.pɔ.tʁa/	capotera /ka.pɔ.tʁa/	capoterons /ka.pɔ.tʁɔ̃/	capoterez /ka.pɔ.tʁe/	capoteront /ka.pɔ.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	capoterais /ka.pɔ.tʁɛ/	capoterais /ka.pɔ.tʁɛ/	capoterait /ka.pɔ.tʁɛ/	capoterions /ka.pɔ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	capoteriez /ka.pɔ.tə.ʁje/	capoteraient /ka.pɔ.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	capote /ka.pɔt/	capotes /ka.pɔt/	capote /ka.pɔt/	capotions /ka.pɔ.tjɔ̃/	capotiez /ka.pɔ.tje/	capotent /ka.pɔt/
	imperfect2	capotasse /ka.pɔ.tas/	capotasses /ka.pɔ.tas/	capotât /ka.pɔ.ta/	capotassions /ka.pɔ.ta.sjɔ̃/	capotassiez /ka.pɔ.ta.sje/	capotassent /ka.pɔ.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	capote /ka.pɔt/	—	capotons /ka.pɔ.tɔ̃/	capotez /ka.pɔ.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).

Further reading

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