compliquer

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin complicāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.pli.ke/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -e
• Homophones: compliquai, compliqué, compliquée, compliquées, compliqués, compliquez

Verb

compliquer

1. to complicate
2. to elaborate

Conjugation

Conjugation of compliquer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	compliquer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	compliquant /kɔ̃.pli.kɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		compliqué /kɔ̃.pli.ke/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	complique /kɔ̃.plik/	compliques /kɔ̃.plik/	complique /kɔ̃.plik/	compliquons /kɔ̃.pli.kɔ̃/	compliquez /kɔ̃.pli.ke/	compliquent /kɔ̃.plik/
	imperfect	compliquais /kɔ̃.pli.kɛ/	compliquais /kɔ̃.pli.kɛ/	compliquait /kɔ̃.pli.kɛ/	compliquions /kɔ̃.pli.kjɔ̃/	compliquiez /kɔ̃.pli.kje/	compliquaient /kɔ̃.pli.kɛ/
	past historic2	compliquai /kɔ̃.pli.ke/	compliquas /kɔ̃.pli.ka/	compliqua /kɔ̃.pli.ka/	compliquâmes /kɔ̃.pli.kam/	compliquâtes /kɔ̃.pli.kat/	compliquèrent /kɔ̃.pli.kɛʁ/
	future	compliquerai /kɔ̃.pli.kʁe/	compliqueras /kɔ̃.pli.kʁa/	compliquera /kɔ̃.pli.kʁa/	compliquerons /kɔ̃.pli.kʁɔ̃/	compliquerez /kɔ̃.pli.kʁe/	compliqueront /kɔ̃.pli.kʁɔ̃/
	conditional	compliquerais /kɔ̃.pli.kʁɛ/	compliquerais /kɔ̃.pli.kʁɛ/	compliquerait /kɔ̃.pli.kʁɛ/	compliquerions /kɔ̃.pli.kə.ʁjɔ̃/	compliqueriez /kɔ̃.pli.kə.ʁje/	compliqueraient /kɔ̃.pli.kʁɛ/
(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	complique /kɔ̃.plik/	compliques /kɔ̃.plik/	complique /kɔ̃.plik/	compliquions /kɔ̃.pli.kjɔ̃/	compliquiez /kɔ̃.pli.kje/	compliquent /kɔ̃.plik/
	imperfect2	compliquasse /kɔ̃.pli.kas/	compliquasses /kɔ̃.pli.kas/	compliquât /kɔ̃.pli.ka/	compliquassions /kɔ̃.pli.ka.sjɔ̃/	compliquassiez /kɔ̃.pli.ka.sje/	compliquassent /kɔ̃.pli.kas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	complique /kɔ̃.plik/	—	compliquons /kɔ̃.pli.kɔ̃/	compliquez /kɔ̃.pli.ke/	—
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

• se compliquer la vie

Further reading

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