inquiéter
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin inquieto, inquietare.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɛ̃.kje.te/
audio (file)
Verb
inquiéter
- (transitive) to worry
- Cette nouvelle m'inquiète. ― This news worries me.
- (reflexive) to be worried, to worry
- Ne t'inquiète pas! ― Don't worry! (informal)
Conjugation
This verb is conjugated like céder. It is a regular -er verb, except that its last stem vowel alternates between /e/ (written ‘é’) and /ɛ/ (written ‘è’), with the latter being used before mute ‘e’. One special case is the future stem, used in the future and the conditional. Before 1990, the future stem of such verbs was written inquiéter-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written inquièter-, reflecting the now common pronunciation /ɛ/, thereby making this distinction consistent throughout the conjugation (and also matching in this regard the conjugations of verbs like lever and jeter). Both spellings are in use today, and both are therefore given here.
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | inquiéter | avoir inquiété | |||||
| gerund | en inquiétant | en ayant inquiété | |||||
| present participle | inquiétant /ɛ̃.kje.tɑ̃/ | ||||||
| past participle | inquiété /ɛ̃.kje.te/ | ||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | inquiète /ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
inquiètes /ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
inquiète /ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
inquiétons /ɛ̃.kje.tɔ̃/ |
inquiétez /ɛ̃.kje.te/ |
inquiètent /ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
| imperfect | inquiétais /ɛ̃.kje.tɛ/ |
inquiétais /ɛ̃.kje.tɛ/ |
inquiétait /ɛ̃.kje.tɛ/ |
inquiétions /ɛ̃.kje.tjɔ̃/ |
inquiétiez /ɛ̃.kje.tje/ |
inquiétaient /ɛ̃.kje.tɛ/ | |
| past historic1 | inquiétai /ɛ̃.kje.te/ |
inquiétas /ɛ̃.kje.ta/ |
inquiéta /ɛ̃.kje.ta/ |
inquiétâmes /ɛ̃.kje.tam/ |
inquiétâtes /ɛ̃.kje.tat/ |
inquiétèrent /ɛ̃.kje.tɛʁ/ | |
| future | inquièterai or inquiéterai /ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁe/ |
inquièteras or inquiéteras /ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁa/ |
inquiètera or inquiétera /ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁa/ |
inquièterons or inquiéterons /ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁɔ̃/ |
inquièterez or inquiéterez /ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁe/ |
inquièteront or inquiéteront /ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | inquièterais or inquiéterais /ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁɛ/ |
inquièterais or inquiéterais /ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁɛ/ |
inquièterait or inquiéterait /ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁɛ/ |
inquièterions or inquiéterions /ɛ̃.kjɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
inquièteriez or inquiéteriez /ɛ̃.kjɛ.tə.ʁje/ |
inquièteraient or inquiéteraient /ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁɛ/ | |
| compound tenses |
present perfect | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior1 | Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il | que nous | que vous | qu’ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | inquiète /ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
inquiètes /ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
inquiète /ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
inquiétions /ɛ̃.kje.tjɔ̃/ |
inquiétiez /ɛ̃.kje.tje/ |
inquiètent /ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
| imperfect1 | inquiétasse /ɛ̃.kje.tas/ |
inquiétasses /ɛ̃.kje.tas/ |
inquiétât /ɛ̃.kje.ta/ |
inquiétassions /ɛ̃.kje.ta.sjɔ̃/ |
inquiétassiez /ɛ̃.kje.ta.sje/ |
inquiétassent /ɛ̃.kje.tas/ | |
| compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect1 | Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nous | vous | – | |
| — | inquiète /ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
— | inquiétons /ɛ̃.kje.tɔ̃/ |
inquiétez /ɛ̃.kje.te/ |
— | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||
This verb is conjugated like céder. It is a regular -er verb, except that its last stem vowel alternates between /e/ (written ‘é’) and /ɛ/ (written ‘è’), with the latter being used before mute ‘e’. One special case is the future stem, used in the future and the conditional. Before 1990, the future stem of such verbs was written inquiéter-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written inquièter-, reflecting the now common pronunciation /ɛ/, thereby making this distinction consistent throughout the conjugation (and also matching in this regard the conjugations of verbs like lever and jeter). Both spellings are in use today, and both are therefore given here.
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | s'inquiéter | s'être inquiété | |||||
| gerund | en s'inquiétant | en s'étant inquiété | |||||
| present participle | s'inquiétant /s‿ɛ̃.kje.tɑ̃/ | ||||||
| past participle | inquiété /ɛ̃.kje.te/ | ||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | m'inquiète /m‿ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
t'inquiètes /t‿ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
s'inquiète /s‿ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
nous inquiétons /nu.z‿ɛ̃.kje.tɔ̃/ |
vous inquiétez /vu.z‿ɛ̃.kje.te/ |
s'inquiètent /s‿ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
| imperfect | m'inquiétais /m‿ɛ̃.kje.tɛ/ |
t'inquiétais /t‿ɛ̃.kje.tɛ/ |
s'inquiétait /s‿ɛ̃.kje.tɛ/ |
nous inquiétions /nu.z‿ɛ̃.kje.tjɔ̃/ |
vous inquiétiez /vu.z‿ɛ̃.kje.tje/ |
s'inquiétaient /s‿ɛ̃.kje.tɛ/ | |
| past historic1 | m'inquiétai /m‿ɛ̃.kje.te/ |
t'inquiétas /t‿ɛ̃.kje.ta/ |
s'inquiéta /s‿ɛ̃.kje.ta/ |
nous inquiétâmes /nu.z‿ɛ̃.kje.tam/ |
vous inquiétâtes /vu.z‿ɛ̃.kje.tat/ |
s'inquiétèrent /s‿ɛ̃.kje.tɛʁ/ | |
| future | m'inquièterai or m'inquiéterai /m‿ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁe/ |
t'inquièteras or t'inquiéteras /t‿ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁa/ |
s'inquiètera or s'inquiétera /s‿ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁa/ |
nous inquièterons or nous inquiéterons /nu.z‿ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁɔ̃/ |
vous inquièterez or vous inquiéterez /vu.z‿ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁe/ |
s'inquièteront or s'inquiéteront /s‿ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | m'inquièterais or m'inquiéterais /m‿ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁɛ/ |
t'inquièterais or t'inquiéterais /t‿ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁɛ/ |
s'inquièterait or s'inquiéterait /s‿ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁɛ/ |
nous inquièterions or nous inquiéterions /nu.z‿ɛ̃.kjɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
vous inquièteriez or vous inquiéteriez /vu.z‿ɛ̃.kjɛ.tə.ʁje/ |
s'inquièteraient or s'inquiéteraient /s‿ɛ̃.kjɛ.tʁɛ/ | |
| compound tenses |
present perfect | Use the present tense of s'être followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of s'être followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior1 | Use the past historic tense of s'être followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of s'être followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of s'être followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il | que nous | que vous | qu’ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | m'inquiète /m‿ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
t'inquiètes /t‿ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
s'inquiète /s‿ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
nous inquiétions /nu.z‿ɛ̃.kje.tjɔ̃/ |
vous inquiétiez /vu.z‿ɛ̃.kje.tje/ |
s'inquiètent /s‿ɛ̃.kjɛt/ |
| imperfect1 | m'inquiétasse /m‿ɛ̃.kje.tas/ |
t'inquiétasses /t‿ɛ̃.kje.tas/ |
s'inquiétât /s‿ɛ̃.kje.ta/ |
nous inquiétassions /nu.z‿ɛ̃.kje.ta.sjɔ̃/ |
vous inquiétassiez /vu.z‿ɛ̃.kje.ta.sje/ |
s'inquiétassent /s‿ɛ̃.kje.tas/ | |
| compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive tense of s'être followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect1 | Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of s'être followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nous | vous | – | |
| — | inquiète-toi /ɛ̃.kjɛt.‿twa/ |
— | inquiétons-nous /ɛ̃.kje.tɔ̃.‿nu/ |
inquiétez-vous /ɛ̃.kje.te.‿vu/ |
— | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||
Related terms
Further reading
- “inquiéter” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).