tâtonner

French

Etymology

From tâter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ta.tɔ.ne/ ~ /tɑ.tɔ.ne/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

tâtonner

1. (intransitive) to feel one's way, grope around

Conjugation

Conjugation of tâtonner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	tâtonner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	tâtonnant /ta.tɔ.nɑ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		tâtonné /ta.tɔ.ne/ or /tɑ.tɔ.ne/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tâtonne /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/	tâtonnes /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/	tâtonne /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/	tâtonnons /ta.tɔ.nɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nɔ̃/	tâtonnez /ta.tɔ.ne/ or /tɑ.tɔ.ne/	tâtonnent /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/
	imperfect	tâtonnais /ta.tɔ.nɛ/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nɛ/	tâtonnais /ta.tɔ.nɛ/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nɛ/	tâtonnait /ta.tɔ.nɛ/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nɛ/	tâtonnions /ta.tɔ.njɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔ.njɔ̃/	tâtonniez /ta.tɔ.nje/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nje/	tâtonnaient /ta.tɔ.nɛ/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nɛ/
	past historic2	tâtonnai /ta.tɔ.ne/ or /tɑ.tɔ.ne/	tâtonnas /ta.tɔ.na/ or /tɑ.tɔ.na/	tâtonna /ta.tɔ.na/ or /tɑ.tɔ.na/	tâtonnâmes /ta.tɔ.nam/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nam/	tâtonnâtes /ta.tɔ.nat/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nat/	tâtonnèrent /ta.tɔ.nɛʁ/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nɛʁ/
	future	tâtonnerai /ta.tɔn.ʁe/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁe/	tâtonneras /ta.tɔn.ʁa/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁa/	tâtonnera /ta.tɔn.ʁa/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁa/	tâtonnerons /ta.tɔn.ʁɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁɔ̃/	tâtonnerez /ta.tɔn.ʁe/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁe/	tâtonneront /ta.tɔn.ʁɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	tâtonnerais /ta.tɔn.ʁɛ/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁɛ/	tâtonnerais /ta.tɔn.ʁɛ/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁɛ/	tâtonnerait /ta.tɔn.ʁɛ/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁɛ/	tâtonnerions /ta.tɔ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/	tâtonneriez /ta.tɔ.nə.ʁje/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nə.ʁje/	tâtonneraient /ta.tɔn.ʁɛ/ or /tɑ.tɔn.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	tâtonne /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/	tâtonnes /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/	tâtonne /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/	tâtonnions /ta.tɔ.njɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔ.njɔ̃/	tâtonniez /ta.tɔ.nje/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nje/	tâtonnent /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/
	imperfect2	tâtonnasse /ta.tɔ.nas/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nas/	tâtonnasses /ta.tɔ.nas/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nas/	tâtonnât /ta.tɔ.na/ or /tɑ.tɔ.na/	tâtonnassions /ta.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃/	tâtonnassiez /ta.tɔ.na.sje/ or /tɑ.tɔ.na.sje/	tâtonnassent /ta.tɔ.nas/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tâtonne /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/	—	tâtonnons /ta.tɔ.nɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nɔ̃/	tâtonnez /ta.tɔ.ne/ or /tɑ.tɔ.ne/	—
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

• tâtonnement

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• renotant