clairsemer

French

Etymology

Formed from the adjective clairsemé (“sparse”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klɛʁ.sə.me/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

clairsemer

1. to dwindle
2. to disperse, scatter
3. to thin out

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 clairsème and the third-person singular future indicative il clairsèmera.

Conjugation of clairsemer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	clairsemer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	clairsemant /klɛʁ.sə.mɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		clairsemé /klɛʁ.sə.me/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	clairsème /klɛʁ.sɛm/	clairsèmes /klɛʁ.sɛm/	clairsème /klɛʁ.sɛm/	clairsemons /klɛʁ.sə.mɔ̃/	clairsemez /klɛʁ.sə.me/	clairsèment /klɛʁ.sɛm/
	imperfect	clairsemais /klɛʁ.sə.mɛ/	clairsemais /klɛʁ.sə.mɛ/	clairsemait /klɛʁ.sə.mɛ/	clairsemions /klɛʁ.sə.mjɔ̃/	clairsemiez /klɛʁ.sə.mje/	clairsemaient /klɛʁ.sə.mɛ/
	past historic2	clairsemai /klɛʁ.sə.me/	clairsemas /klɛʁ.sə.ma/	clairsema /klɛʁ.sə.ma/	clairsemâmes /klɛʁ.sə.mam/	clairsemâtes /klɛʁ.sə.mat/	clairsemèrent /klɛʁ.sə.mɛʁ/
	future	clairsèmerai /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁe/	clairsèmeras /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁa/	clairsèmera /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁa/	clairsèmerons /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁɔ̃/	clairsèmerez /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁe/	clairsèmeront /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	clairsèmerais /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁɛ/	clairsèmerais /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁɛ/	clairsèmerait /klɛʁ.sɛm.ʁɛ/	clairsèmerions /klɛʁ.sɛ.mə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /klɛʁ.se.mə.ʁjɔ̃/	clairsèmeriez /klɛʁ.sɛ.mə.ʁje/ or /klɛʁ.se.mə.ʁje/	clairsèmeraient /klɛʁ.sɛm.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	clairsème /klɛʁ.sɛm/	clairsèmes /klɛʁ.sɛm/	clairsème /klɛʁ.sɛm/	clairsemions /klɛʁ.sə.mjɔ̃/	clairsemiez /klɛʁ.sə.mje/	clairsèment /klɛʁ.sɛm/
	imperfect2	clairsemasse /klɛʁ.sə.mas/	clairsemasses /klɛʁ.sə.mas/	clairsemât /klɛʁ.sə.ma/	clairsemassions /klɛʁ.sə.ma.sjɔ̃/	clairsemassiez /klɛʁ.sə.ma.sje/	clairsemassent /klɛʁ.sə.mas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	clairsème /klɛʁ.sɛm/	—	clairsemons /klɛʁ.sə.mɔ̃/	clairsemez /klɛʁ.sə.me/	—
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

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