chatoyer

French

Etymology

From chat +‎ -oyer, referring to the tapetum of the cat's eye.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃa.twa.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

chatoyer

1. (intransitive) to shimmer; to iridesce (to reflect light in different colors depending on the direction and orientation)

Conjugation

This verb is part of a large group of -er verbs that conjugate like noyer or ennuyer. These verbs always replace the 'y' with an 'i' before a silent 'e'.

Conjugation of chatoyer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	chatoyer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	chatoyant /ʃa.twa.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		chatoyé /ʃa.twa.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	chatoie /ʃa.twa/	chatoies /ʃa.twa/	chatoie /ʃa.twa/	chatoyons /ʃa.twa.jɔ̃/	chatoyez /ʃa.twa.je/	chatoient /ʃa.twa/
	imperfect	chatoyais /ʃa.twa.jɛ/	chatoyais /ʃa.twa.jɛ/	chatoyait /ʃa.twa.jɛ/	chatoyions /ʃa.twaj.jɔ̃/	chatoyiez /ʃa.twaj.je/	chatoyaient /ʃa.twa.jɛ/
	past historic2	chatoyai /ʃa.twa.je/	chatoyas /ʃa.twa.ja/	chatoya /ʃa.twa.ja/	chatoyâmes /ʃa.twa.jam/	chatoyâtes /ʃa.twa.jat/	chatoyèrent /ʃa.twa.jɛʁ/
	future	chatoierai /ʃa.twa.ʁe/	chatoieras /ʃa.twa.ʁa/	chatoiera /ʃa.twa.ʁa/	chatoierons /ʃa.twa.ʁɔ̃/	chatoierez /ʃa.twa.ʁe/	chatoieront /ʃa.twa.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	chatoierais /ʃa.twa.ʁɛ/	chatoierais /ʃa.twa.ʁɛ/	chatoierait /ʃa.twa.ʁɛ/	chatoierions /ʃa.twa.ʁjɔ̃/	chatoieriez /ʃa.twa.ʁje/	chatoieraient /ʃa.twa.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	chatoie /ʃa.twa/	chatoies /ʃa.twa/	chatoie /ʃa.twa/	chatoyions /ʃa.twaj.jɔ̃/	chatoyiez /ʃa.twaj.je/	chatoient /ʃa.twa/
	imperfect2	chatoyasse /ʃa.twa.jas/	chatoyasses /ʃa.twa.jas/	chatoyât /ʃa.twa.ja/	chatoyassions /ʃa.twa.ja.sjɔ̃/	chatoyassiez /ʃa.twa.ja.sje/	chatoyassent /ʃa.twa.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	chatoie /ʃa.twa/	—	chatoyons /ʃa.twa.jɔ̃/	chatoyez /ʃa.twa.je/	—
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).

Related terms

• chatoiement

Further reading

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