cercher

Middle French

Verb

cercher

1. Alternative form of chercher

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of cercher

infinitive	simple	cercher
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	cerchant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		cerché
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	cerche	cerches	cerche	cerchons	cerchez	cerchent
	imperfect	cerchois, cerchoys	cerchois, cerchoys	cerchoit, cerchoyt	cerchions, cerchyons	cerchiez, cerchyez	cerchoient, cerchoyent
	past historic	cercha	cerchas	cercha	cerchasmes	cerchastes	cercherent
	future	cercherai, cercheray	cercheras	cerchera	cercherons	cercherez	cercheront
	conditional	cercherois, cercheroys	cercherois, cercheroys	cercheroit, cercheroyt	cercherions, cercheryons	cercheriez, cercheryez	cercheroient, cercheroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	cerche	cerches	cerche	cerchons	cerchez	cerchent
	imperfect	cerchasse	cerchasses	cerchast	cerchassions	cerchassiez	cerchassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	cerche	—	cerchons	cerchez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).