interpeller

French

Alternative forms

• interpeler (post-1990 spelling)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin interpellāre, from interpellō (“to interrupt, to hinder”). Compare Italian interpellare, Spanish and Portuguese interpelar, English interpellate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.le/, (formal) /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.le/, (formal) /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.le/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

interpeller

1. (transitive) to call out to
2. (transitive) to question, to interrogate; to address (of police etc.)
   1. (transitive, by extension) to apprehend, to arrest

      Synonym: appréhender

      • 2020 November 5, “Quatre radars automatiques incendiés dans le sud-est”, in Europe 1:

        Aucun suspect n’a été interpellé.

        No suspects have been caught.

3. (transitive, politics) to interpellate (question formally concerning official or governmental policy)

Conjugation

Conjugation of interpeller (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	interpeller
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	interpellant /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.lɑ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.lɑ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		interpellé /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.le/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.le/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	interpelle /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl/	interpelles /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl/	interpelle /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl/	interpellons /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.lɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.lɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.lɔ̃/	interpellez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.le/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.le/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.le/	interpellent /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl/
	imperfect	interpellais /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.lɛ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.lɛ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.lɛ/	interpellais /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.lɛ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.lɛ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.lɛ/	interpellait /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.lɛ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.lɛ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.lɛ/	interpellions /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.ljɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.ljɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.ljɔ̃/	interpelliez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.lje/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.lje/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.lje/	interpellaient /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.lɛ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.lɛ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.lɛ/
	past historic2	interpellai /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.le/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.le/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.le/	interpellas /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.la/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.la/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.la/	interpella /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.la/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.la/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.la/	interpellâmes /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.lam/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.lam/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.lam/	interpellâtes /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.lat/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.lat/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.lat/	interpellèrent /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.lɛʁ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.lɛʁ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.lɛʁ/
	future	interpellerai /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.l(ə).ʁe/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl.ʁe/	interpelleras /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.l(ə).ʁa/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl.ʁa/	interpellera /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.l(ə).ʁa/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl.ʁa/	interpellerons /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.l(ə).ʁɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl.ʁɔ̃/	interpellerez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.l(ə).ʁe/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl.ʁe/	interpelleront /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.l(ə).ʁɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	interpellerais /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.l(ə).ʁɛ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl.ʁɛ/	interpellerais /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.l(ə).ʁɛ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl.ʁɛ/	interpellerait /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.l(ə).ʁɛ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl.ʁɛ/	interpellerions /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	interpelleriez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.lə.ʁje/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.lə.ʁje/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.lə.ʁje/	interpelleraient /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.l(ə).ʁɛ/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl.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	interpelle /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl/	interpelles /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl/	interpelle /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl/	interpellions /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.ljɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.ljɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.ljɔ̃/	interpelliez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.lje/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.lje/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.lje/	interpellent /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl/
	imperfect2	interpellasse /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.las/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.las/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.las/	interpellasses /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.las/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.las/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.las/	interpellât /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.la/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.la/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.la/	interpellassions /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.la.sjɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.la.sjɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.la.sjɔ̃/	interpellassiez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.la.sje/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.la.sje/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.la.sje/	interpellassent /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.las/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.las/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	interpelle /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl/	—	interpellons /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.lɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.lɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.lɔ̃/	interpellez /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.le/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.le/ or /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.le/	—
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

• interpellation

Further reading

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

Latin

Verb

interpeller

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of interpellō