essayer

English

Etymology

From essay +‎ -er.

Noun

essayer (plural essayers)

1. (obsolete) One who performs an essay; an experimenter.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French essayer, essaier, from Old French essaiier, essayer, essaier, from essay, essai (“attempt; assay; experiment”) + -er (“infinitive-forming suffix”), from Late Latin exagium (“weight; weighing, testing on the balance”), from Latin exigere + -ium, from ex- + agere, from Proto-Italic *agō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.sɛ.je/ ~ /e.se.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

essayer

1. (transitive) to test, to try on

   Essayez cette chemise. ― Try this shirt on.

2. (catenative) to try, to attempt [with de (+ infinitive) ‘to do something’]

   J’ai essayé d’apprendre le piano. ― I tried to learn [to play] the piano.

   Des psychologues ont essayé d’analyser quels traits physiques étaient considérés comme attirants. ― Psychologists have tried to analyze what physical traits were considered to be attractive.

   • 2018, Zaz, Résigne-moi:

     J’essaie vraiment d’ t’aider sans m’oublier.

     I'm truly trying to help you without forgetting myself.

3. (reflexive) to try one's hand [with à ‘at something’]

   s’essayer à quelque chose ― to try one's hand at something

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb as far as pronunciation is concerned, but as with other verbs in -ayer (such as payer and essayer), the <y> of its stem may optionally be written as <i> when it precedes a silent <e> (compare verbs in -eyer, which never have this spelling change, and verbs in -oyer and -uyer, which always have it; verbs in -ayer belong to either group, according to the writer's preference).

Conjugation of essayer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	essayer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	essayant /e.sɛ.jɑ̃/ or /e.se.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		essayé /e.sɛ.je/ or /e.se.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	essaye or essaie /e.sɛj/ or /e.sɛ/	essayes or essaies /e.sɛj/ or /e.sɛ/	essaye or essaie /e.sɛj/ or /e.sɛ/	essayons /e.sɛ.jɔ̃/ or /e.se.jɔ̃/	essayez /e.sɛ.je/ or /e.se.je/	essayent or essaient /e.sɛj/ or /e.sɛ/
	imperfect	essayais /e.sɛ.jɛ/ or /e.se.jɛ/	essayais /e.sɛ.jɛ/ or /e.se.jɛ/	essayait /e.sɛ.jɛ/ or /e.se.jɛ/	essayions /e.sɛj.jɔ̃/	essayiez /e.sɛj.je/	essayaient /e.sɛ.jɛ/ or /e.se.jɛ/
	past historic2	essayai /e.sɛ.je/ or /e.se.je/	essayas /e.sɛ.ja/ or /e.se.ja/	essaya /e.sɛ.ja/ or /e.se.ja/	essayâmes /e.sɛ.jam/ or /e.se.jam/	essayâtes /e.sɛ.jat/ or /e.se.jat/	essayèrent /e.sɛ.jɛʁ/ or /e.se.jɛʁ/
	future	essayerai or essaierai /e.sɛj.ʁe/ or /e.sɛ.ʁe/ or /e.se.ʁe/	essayeras or essaieras /e.sɛj.ʁa/ or /e.sɛ.ʁa/ or /e.se.ʁa/	essayera or essaiera /e.sɛj.ʁa/ or /e.sɛ.ʁa/ or /e.se.ʁa/	essayerons or essaierons /e.sɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /e.sɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /e.se.ʁɔ̃/	essayerez or essaierez /e.sɛj.ʁe/ or /e.sɛ.ʁe/ or /e.se.ʁe/	essayeront or essaieront /e.sɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /e.sɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /e.se.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	essayerais or essaierais /e.sɛj.ʁɛ/ or /e.sɛ.ʁɛ/ or /e.se.ʁɛ/	essayerais or essaierais /e.sɛj.ʁɛ/ or /e.sɛ.ʁɛ/ or /e.se.ʁɛ/	essayerait or essaierait /e.sɛj.ʁɛ/ or /e.sɛ.ʁɛ/ or /e.se.ʁɛ/	essayerions or essaierions /e.sɛ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /e.se.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /e.sɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /e.se.ʁjɔ̃/	essayeriez or essaieriez /e.sɛ.jə.ʁje/ or /e.se.jə.ʁje/ or /e.sɛ.ʁje/ or /e.se.ʁje/	essayeraient or essaieraient /e.sɛj.ʁɛ/ or /e.sɛ.ʁɛ/ or /e.se.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	essaye or essaie /e.sɛj/ or /e.sɛ/	essayes or essaies /e.sɛj/ or /e.sɛ/	essaye or essaie /e.sɛj/ or /e.sɛ/	essayions /e.sɛj.jɔ̃/	essayiez /e.sɛj.je/	essayent or essaient /e.sɛj/ or /e.sɛ/
	imperfect2	essayasse /e.sɛ.jas/ or /e.se.jas/	essayasses /e.sɛ.jas/ or /e.se.jas/	essayât /e.sɛ.ja/ or /e.se.ja/	essayassions /e.sɛ.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /e.se.ja.sjɔ̃/	essayassiez /e.sɛ.ja.sje/ or /e.se.ja.sje/	essayassent /e.sɛ.jas/ or /e.se.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	essaye or essaie /e.sɛj/ or /e.sɛ/	—	essayons /e.sɛ.jɔ̃/ or /e.se.jɔ̃/	essayez /e.sɛ.je/ or /e.se.je/	—
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

• bien essayé
• essai
• essayage
• essayeur
• essayiste

 

Further reading

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

Paronyms

• essuyer

Anagrams

• ressaye, ressayé

Middle French

Verb

essayer

1. (transitive) to test
2. (catenative) to try, to attempt [with de (+ infinitive) ‘to do something’]

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of essayer

infinitive	simple	essayer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	essayant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		essayé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	essaye	essayes	essaye	essayons	essayez	essayent
	imperfect	essayois, essayoys	essayois, essayoys	essayoit, essayoyt	essayions, essayyons	essayiez, essayyez	essayoient, essayoyent
	past historic	essaya	essayas	essaya	essayasmes	essayastes	essayerent
	future	essayerai, essayeray	essayeras	essayera	essayerons	essayerez	essayeront
	conditional	essayerois, essayeroys	essayerois, essayeroys	essayeroit, essayeroyt	essayerions, essayeryons	essayeriez, essayeryez	essayeroient, essayeroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	essaye	essayes	essaye	essayons	essayez	essayent
	imperfect	essayasse	essayasses	essayast	essayassions	essayassiez	essayassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	essaye	—	essayons	essayez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

essayer n

1. indefinite singular of essay

Synonyms

• essay