lécher
French
Etymology
From Frankish *lekkon, from Proto-Germanic *likkōną, whence Old English liccian (Modern English lick). Compare also Italian leccare, from the same Germanic source.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /le.ʃe/
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audio (file)
Verb
lécher
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 lécher-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written lècher-, 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 | lécher | avoir léché | |||||
| gerund | en léchant | en ayant léché | |||||
| present participle | léchant /le.ʃɑ̃/ | ||||||
| past participle | léché /le.ʃe/ | ||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | lèche /lɛʃ/ |
lèches /lɛʃ/ |
lèche /lɛʃ/ |
léchons /le.ʃɔ̃/ |
léchez /le.ʃe/ |
lèchent /lɛʃ/ |
| imperfect | léchais /le.ʃɛ/ |
léchais /le.ʃɛ/ |
léchait /le.ʃɛ/ |
léchions /le.ʃjɔ̃/ |
léchiez /le.ʃje/ |
léchaient /le.ʃɛ/ | |
| past historic1 | léchai /le.ʃe/ |
léchas /le.ʃa/ |
lécha /le.ʃa/ |
léchâmes /le.ʃam/ |
léchâtes /le.ʃat/ |
léchèrent /le.ʃɛʁ/ | |
| future | lècherai or lécherai /lɛʃ.ʁe/ |
lècheras or lécheras /lɛʃ.ʁa/ |
lèchera or léchera /lɛʃ.ʁa/ |
lècherons or lécherons /lɛʃ.ʁɔ̃/ |
lècherez or lécherez /lɛʃ.ʁe/ |
lècheront or lécheront /lɛʃ.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | lècherais or lécherais /lɛʃ.ʁɛ/ |
lècherais or lécherais /lɛʃ.ʁɛ/ |
lècherait or lécherait /lɛʃ.ʁɛ/ |
lècherions or lécherions /lɛ.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
lècheriez or lécheriez /lɛ.ʃə.ʁje/ |
lècheraient or lécheraient /lɛʃ.ʁɛ/ | |
| 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 | lèche /lɛʃ/ |
lèches /lɛʃ/ |
lèche /lɛʃ/ |
léchions /le.ʃjɔ̃/ |
léchiez /le.ʃje/ |
lèchent /lɛʃ/ |
| imperfect1 | léchasse /le.ʃas/ |
léchasses /le.ʃas/ |
léchât /le.ʃa/ |
léchassions /le.ʃa.sjɔ̃/ |
léchassiez /le.ʃa.sje/ |
léchassent /le.ʃas/ | |
| 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 | – | |
| — | lèche /lɛʃ/ |
— | léchons /le.ʃɔ̃/ |
léchez /le.ʃe/ |
— | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||
Derived terms
Further reading
- “lécher” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).