tâcher

See also: tacher

French

Etymology

From tâche. From Latin taxāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ta.ʃe/ ~ /tɑ.ʃe/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: tacher

Verb

tâcher

1. (intransitive) to try, attempt, endeavour (to do something)

   Tâchez de partir avant le matin. Try to leave before morning.

   • 1640, Pierre Corneille, Horace, act 3, scene 5:

     Tâchez d’en faire autant pour soulager vos peines / Et songez toutes deux que vous êtes Romaines

     Endeavor to do as such to relieve your grief / And both of you recall that you are Roman women.

2. (transitive) to ensure (que that, + subjunctive)

   Tâche qu'elle vienne. Make sure she comes.

Conjugation

Conjugation of tâcher (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	tâcher
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	tâchant /ta.ʃɑ̃/ or /tɑ.ʃɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		tâché /ta.ʃe/ or /tɑ.ʃe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tâche /taʃ/ or /tɑʃ/	tâches /taʃ/ or /tɑʃ/	tâche /taʃ/ or /tɑʃ/	tâchons /ta.ʃɔ̃/ or /tɑ.ʃɔ̃/	tâchez /ta.ʃe/ or /tɑ.ʃe/	tâchent /taʃ/ or /tɑʃ/
	imperfect	tâchais /ta.ʃɛ/ or /tɑ.ʃɛ/	tâchais /ta.ʃɛ/ or /tɑ.ʃɛ/	tâchait /ta.ʃɛ/ or /tɑ.ʃɛ/	tâchions /ta.ʃjɔ̃/ or /tɑ.ʃjɔ̃/	tâchiez /ta.ʃje/ or /tɑ.ʃje/	tâchaient /ta.ʃɛ/ or /tɑ.ʃɛ/
	past historic2	tâchai /ta.ʃe/ or /tɑ.ʃe/	tâchas /ta.ʃa/ or /tɑ.ʃa/	tâcha /ta.ʃa/ or /tɑ.ʃa/	tâchâmes /ta.ʃam/ or /tɑ.ʃam/	tâchâtes /ta.ʃat/ or /tɑ.ʃat/	tâchèrent /ta.ʃɛʁ/ or /tɑ.ʃɛʁ/
	future	tâcherai /taʃ.ʁe/ or /tɑʃ.ʁe/	tâcheras /taʃ.ʁa/ or /tɑʃ.ʁa/	tâchera /taʃ.ʁa/ or /tɑʃ.ʁa/	tâcherons /taʃ.ʁɔ̃/ or /tɑʃ.ʁɔ̃/	tâcherez /taʃ.ʁe/ or /tɑʃ.ʁe/	tâcheront /taʃ.ʁɔ̃/ or /tɑʃ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	tâcherais /taʃ.ʁɛ/ or /tɑʃ.ʁɛ/	tâcherais /taʃ.ʁɛ/ or /tɑʃ.ʁɛ/	tâcherait /taʃ.ʁɛ/ or /tɑʃ.ʁɛ/	tâcherions /ta.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /tɑ.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/	tâcheriez /ta.ʃə.ʁje/ or /tɑ.ʃə.ʁje/	tâcheraient /taʃ.ʁɛ/ or /tɑʃ.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	tâche /taʃ/ or /tɑʃ/	tâches /taʃ/ or /tɑʃ/	tâche /taʃ/ or /tɑʃ/	tâchions /ta.ʃjɔ̃/ or /tɑ.ʃjɔ̃/	tâchiez /ta.ʃje/ or /tɑ.ʃje/	tâchent /taʃ/ or /tɑʃ/
	imperfect2	tâchasse /ta.ʃas/ or /tɑ.ʃas/	tâchasses /ta.ʃas/ or /tɑ.ʃas/	tâchât /ta.ʃa/ or /tɑ.ʃa/	tâchassions /ta.ʃa.sjɔ̃/ or /tɑ.ʃa.sjɔ̃/	tâchassiez /ta.ʃa.sje/ or /tɑ.ʃa.sje/	tâchassent /ta.ʃas/ or /tɑ.ʃas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tâche /taʃ/ or /tɑʃ/	—	tâchons /ta.ʃɔ̃/ or /tɑ.ʃɔ̃/	tâchez /ta.ʃe/ or /tɑ.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: 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).

Further reading

• “tâcher”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• Comment-conjuguer.fr - online conjugation of "tâcher"

Anagrams

• archet, charte, châtre, châtré