empêcher
French edit
Etymology edit
Inherited from Old French empeechier, inherited from Latin impedicāre. Cognate with English impeach. Doublet of empiéger.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
empêcher
- (transitive) to stop; to prevent; to hinder
- 1966, C. van de Kieft, “Monopole de vente du "gruit" (produit végétal employé dans la fabrication de la bière) et droit de ban”, in Acta Historiae Neerlandica, volume 1, page 79:
- De la sorte, le banvin empêchait le débit de vins de qualité inférieure et servait l’intérêt général.
- In this way, the banvin prevented the output of poor-quality wines and served the general interest.
- (reflexive, transitive with de) to refrain
- Synonym: se retenir de
- Je ne peux m’empêcher de l’admirer. ― I can't help but admire him.
Conjugation edit
Conjugation of empêcher (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | empêcher | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | empêchant /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɑ̃/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | empêché /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃe/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | empêche /ɑ̃.pɛʃ/ |
empêches /ɑ̃.pɛʃ/ |
empêche /ɑ̃.pɛʃ/ |
empêchons /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃɔ̃/ |
empêchez /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃe/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃe/ |
empêchent /ɑ̃.pɛʃ/ |
| imperfect | empêchais /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɛ/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃɛ/ |
empêchais /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɛ/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃɛ/ |
empêchait /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɛ/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃɛ/ |
empêchions /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃjɔ̃/ |
empêchiez /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃje/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃje/ |
empêchaient /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɛ/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | empêchai /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃe/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃe/ |
empêchas /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃa/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃa/ |
empêcha /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃa/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃa/ |
empêchâmes /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃam/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃam/ |
empêchâtes /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃat/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃat/ |
empêchèrent /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɛʁ/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃɛʁ/ | |
| future | empêcherai /ɑ̃.pɛʃ.ʁe/ |
empêcheras /ɑ̃.pɛʃ.ʁa/ |
empêchera /ɑ̃.pɛʃ.ʁa/ |
empêcherons /ɑ̃.pɛʃ.ʁɔ̃/ |
empêcherez /ɑ̃.pɛʃ.ʁe/ |
empêcheront /ɑ̃.pɛʃ.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | empêcherais /ɑ̃.pɛʃ.ʁɛ/ |
empêcherais /ɑ̃.pɛʃ.ʁɛ/ |
empêcherait /ɑ̃.pɛʃ.ʁɛ/ |
empêcherions /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
empêcheriez /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃə.ʁje/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃə.ʁje/ |
empêcheraient /ɑ̃.pɛʃ.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 | empêche /ɑ̃.pɛʃ/ |
empêches /ɑ̃.pɛʃ/ |
empêche /ɑ̃.pɛʃ/ |
empêchions /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃjɔ̃/ |
empêchiez /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃje/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃje/ |
empêchent /ɑ̃.pɛʃ/ |
| imperfect2 | empêchasse /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃas/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃas/ |
empêchasses /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃas/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃas/ |
empêchât /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃa/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃa/ |
empêchassions /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃa.sjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃa.sjɔ̃/ |
empêchassiez /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃa.sje/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃa.sje/ |
empêchassent /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃas/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | empêche /ɑ̃.pɛʃ/ |
— | empêchons /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃɔ̃/ |
empêchez /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃe/ or /ɑ̃.pe.ʃe/ |
— | |
| 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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Quotations edit
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:empêcher.
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Further reading edit
- “empêcher”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.