douter

See also: Douter and doûter

English

Etymology

dout (“to put out”) +‎ -er.

Noun

douter (plural douters)

1. (obsolete) An extinguisher for candles.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “douter”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• Drouet, detour, redout, routed, toured

French

Alternative forms

• doubter (obsolete)
• doûter (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Latin dubitāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /du.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

douter

1. (followed by the preposition de) to doubt

   Il ne faut pas douter de la bonne foi de son interlocuteur.

   One must not doubt the intention of one's interlocutor.

   Je doute qu’il y parvienne.

   I doubt that he will manage.

   J’en doute.

   I doubt that.

2. (reflexive) to suspect, to have an inkling

   Je me doutais qu’il n’allait pas bien, mais je ne savais pas que c’était à ce point-là.

   I suspected that he was not doing well, but I did not know that it was to that degree.

   Il s’en doute bien.

   He is well aware.

Usage notes

Douter subordinates a subjunctive content clause when used affirmatively, but subordinates the indicative when used non-affirmatively.

• Je doute qu’il ait fait ses devoirs.

  I doubt that he finished his homework.

  (positive douter, subjunctive avoir)

• Je ne doute pas qu’il a perdu son crayon par accident.

  I don't doubt that he lost his pencil by accident.

  (negative douter, indicative avoir)

Conjugation

Conjugation of douter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	douter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	doutant /du.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		douté /du.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	doute /dut/	doutes /dut/	doute /dut/	doutons /du.tɔ̃/	doutez /du.te/	doutent /dut/
	imperfect	doutais /du.tɛ/	doutais /du.tɛ/	doutait /du.tɛ/	doutions /du.tjɔ̃/	doutiez /du.tje/	doutaient /du.tɛ/
	past historic2	doutai /du.te/	doutas /du.ta/	douta /du.ta/	doutâmes /du.tam/	doutâtes /du.tat/	doutèrent /du.tɛʁ/
	future	douterai /du.tʁe/	douteras /du.tʁa/	doutera /du.tʁa/	douterons /du.tʁɔ̃/	douterez /du.tʁe/	douteront /du.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	douterais /du.tʁɛ/	douterais /du.tʁɛ/	douterait /du.tʁɛ/	douterions /du.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	douteriez /du.tə.ʁje/	douteraient /du.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	doute /dut/	doutes /dut/	doute /dut/	doutions /du.tjɔ̃/	doutiez /du.tje/	doutent /dut/
	imperfect2	doutasse /du.tas/	doutasses /du.tas/	doutât /du.ta/	doutassions /du.ta.sjɔ̃/	doutassiez /du.ta.sje/	doutassent /du.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	doute /dut/	—	doutons /du.tɔ̃/	doutez /du.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).

Derived terms

• à n’en pas douter
• ne douter de rien

Related terms

• doute
• douteux

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• détour
• tordue

Middle French

Verb

douter

1. Alternative form of doubter

Old French

Verb

douter

1. Alternative form of doter

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-ts, *-tt are modified to z, t. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of douter (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		douter			avoir douté
gerund		en doutant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		doutant
past participle		douté
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	dout	doutes	doute	doutons	doutez	doutent
	imperfect	doutoie, douteie, doutoe, douteve	doutoies, douteies, doutoes, douteves	doutoit, douteit, doutot, douteve	doutiiens, doutiens	doutiiez, doutiez	doutoient, douteient, doutoent, doutevent
	preterite	doutai	doutas	douta	doutames	doutastes	douterent
	future	douterai	douteras	doutera	douterons	douteroiz, doutereiz, douterez	douteront
	conditional	douteroie, doutereie	douteroies, doutereies	douteroit, doutereit	douteriiens, douteriens	douteriiez, douteriez	douteroient, doutereient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	dout	douz	dout	doutons	doutez	doutent
	imperfect	doutasse	doutasses	doutast	doutissons, doutissiens	doutissoiz, doutissez, doutissiez	doutassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	doute	—	doutons	doutez	—