enseigner

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French enseignier, from Old French enseignier, from Vulgar Latin īnsignāre (also found in Medieval Latin), from Latin signāre. Compare Italian insegnare, Spanish enseñar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲe/, /ɑ̃.se.ɲe/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

enseigner

1. (transitive, with recipient as direct object) to teach, to instruct, to educate

   Synonym: instruire

   enseigner des enfants et des adolescents ― to teach young children and adolescents

2. (transitive, with subject matter as direct object, instructee as indirect object with à) to teach

   Synonym: apprendre

   enseigner quelque chose à quelqu’un ― to teach someone something (literally, to teach something to someone)

   enseigner à quelqu’un à faire quelque chose ― to teach someone (how) to do something

   enseigner (à quelqu’un) que […] ― to teach (someone) that […]

   On lui enseigne le français. ― We are teaching him/her French.

   Elle a l’intention de leur enseigner à résoudre les équations différentielles. ― She intends to teach them to solve differential equations.

Conjugation

Conjugation of enseigner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	enseigner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	enseignant /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲɑ̃/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		enseigné /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲe/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	enseigne /ɑ̃.sɛɲ/	enseignes /ɑ̃.sɛɲ/	enseigne /ɑ̃.sɛɲ/	enseignons /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲɔ̃/	enseignez /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲe/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲe/	enseignent /ɑ̃.sɛɲ/
	imperfect	enseignais /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲɛ/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲɛ/	enseignais /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲɛ/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲɛ/	enseignait /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲɛ/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲɛ/	enseignions /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲjɔ̃/	enseigniez /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲje/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲje/	enseignaient /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲɛ/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲɛ/
	past historic2	enseignai /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲe/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲe/	enseignas /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲa/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲa/	enseigna /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲa/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲa/	enseignâmes /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲam/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲam/	enseignâtes /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲat/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲat/	enseignèrent /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲɛʁ/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲɛʁ/
	future	enseignerai /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲə.ʁe/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲə.ʁe/	enseigneras /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲə.ʁa/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲə.ʁa/	enseignera /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲə.ʁa/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲə.ʁa/	enseignerons /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲə.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲə.ʁɔ̃/	enseignerez /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲə.ʁe/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲə.ʁe/	enseigneront /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲə.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	enseignerais /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲə.ʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲə.ʁɛ/	enseignerais /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲə.ʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲə.ʁɛ/	enseignerait /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲə.ʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲə.ʁɛ/	enseignerions /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲə.ʁjɔ̃/	enseigneriez /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲə.ʁje/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲə.ʁje/	enseigneraient /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲə.ʁɛ/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲə.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	enseigne /ɑ̃.sɛɲ/	enseignes /ɑ̃.sɛɲ/	enseigne /ɑ̃.sɛɲ/	enseignions /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲjɔ̃/	enseigniez /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲje/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲje/	enseignent /ɑ̃.sɛɲ/
	imperfect2	enseignasse /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲas/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲas/	enseignasses /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲas/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲas/	enseignât /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲa/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲa/	enseignassions /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲa.sjɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲa.sjɔ̃/	enseignassiez /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲa.sje/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲa.sje/	enseignassent /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲas/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	enseigne /ɑ̃.sɛɲ/	—	enseignons /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲɔ̃/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲɔ̃/	enseignez /ɑ̃.sɛ.ɲe/ or /ɑ̃.se.ɲe/	—
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

• enseignant, enseignement

See also

• apprendre
• éduquer
• instruire

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• renseigne, renseigné

Old French

Verb

enseigner

1. Alternative form of enseignier

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-ign, *-igns, *-ignt are modified to ing, inz, int. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		enseigner			avoir enseigné
gerund		en enseignant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		enseignant
past participle		enseigné
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	enseing	enseignes	enseigne	enseignons	enseignez	enseignent
	imperfect	enseignoie, enseigneie, enseignoe, enseigneve	enseignoies, enseigneies, enseignoes, enseigneves	enseignoit, enseigneit, enseignot, enseigneve	enseigniiens, enseigniens	enseigniiez, enseigniez	enseignoient, enseigneient, enseignoent, enseignevent
	preterite	enseignai	enseignas	enseigna	enseignames	enseignastes	enseignerent
	future	enseignerai	enseigneras	enseignera	enseignerons	enseigneroiz, enseignereiz, enseignerez	enseigneront
	conditional	enseigneroie, enseignereie	enseigneroies, enseignereies	enseigneroit, enseignereit	enseigneriiens, enseigneriens	enseigneriiez, enseigneriez	enseigneroient, enseignereient
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	enseing	enseinz	enseint	enseignons	enseignez	enseignent
	imperfect	enseignasse	enseignasses	enseignast	enseignissons, enseignissiens	enseignissoiz, enseignissez, enseignissiez	enseignassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	enseigne	—	enseignons	enseignez	—