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Definition 2024
pénétrer
pénétrer
See also: penetrer
French
Verb
pénétrer
- (transitive) to enter, to get in (to)
- Comment a-t-il pu pénétrer le site? ― How did he get into the site?
- to penetrate
- to see through somebody's lies or secret plans
- Cet homme a beau feindre, il n’est pas difficile à pénétrer. ― That man may well pretend, but it's easy to see through his lies.
- to penetrate (to enter sexually; to engage in penetrative sex)
Derived terms
- pénétration
- pénétrer par effraction
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 pénétrer-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written pénètrer-, 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.
Conjugation of pénétrer (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | pénétrer | avoir pénétré | |||||
| gerund | en pénétrant | en ayant pénétré | |||||
| present participle | pénétrant /pe.ne.tʁɑ̃/ |
||||||
| past participle | pénétré /pe.ne.tʁe/ |
||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | pénètre /pe.nɛtʁ/ |
pénètres /pe.nɛtʁ/ |
pénètre /pe.nɛtʁ/ |
pénétrons /pe.ne.tʁɔ̃/ |
pénétrez /pe.ne.tʁe/ |
pénètrent /pe.nɛtʁ/ |
| imperfect | pénétrais /pe.ne.tʁɛ/ |
pénétrais /pe.ne.tʁɛ/ |
pénétrait /pe.ne.tʁɛ/ |
pénétrions /pe.ne.tʁi.jɔ̃/ |
pénétriez /pe.ne.tʁi.je/ |
pénétraient /pe.ne.tʁɛ/ |
|
| past historic1 | pénétrai /pe.ne.tʁe/ |
pénétras /pe.ne.tʁa/ |
pénétra /pe.ne.tʁa/ |
pénétrâmes /pe.ne.tʁam/ |
pénétrâtes /pe.ne.tʁat/ |
pénétrèrent /pe.ne.tʁɛʁ/ |
|
| future | pénètrerai or pénétrerai /pe.nɛ.tʁə.ʁe/ |
pénètreras or pénétreras /pe.nɛ.tʁə.ʁa/ |
pénètrera or pénétrera /pe.nɛ.tʁə.ʁa/ |
pénètrerons or pénétrerons /pe.nɛ.tʁə.ʁɔ̃/ |
pénètrerez or pénétrerez /pe.nɛ.tʁə.ʁe/ |
pénètreront or pénétreront /pe.nɛ.tʁə.ʁɔ̃/ |
|
| conditional | pénètrerais or pénétrerais /pe.nɛ.tʁə.ʁɛ/ |
pénètrerais or pénétrerais /pe.nɛ.tʁə.ʁɛ/ |
pénètrerait or pénétrerait /pe.nɛ.tʁə.ʁɛ/ |
pénètrerions or pénétrerions /pe.nɛ.tʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
pénètreriez or pénétreriez /pe.nɛ.tʁə.ʁje/ |
pénètreraient or pénétreraient /pe.nɛ.tʁə.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 | pénètre /pe.nɛtʁ/ |
pénètres /pe.nɛtʁ/ |
pénètre /pe.nɛtʁ/ |
pénétrions /pe.ne.tʁi.jɔ̃/ |
pénétriez /pe.ne.tʁi.je/ |
pénètrent /pe.nɛtʁ/ |
| imperfect1 |
pénétrasse /pe.ne.tʁas/ |
pénétrasses /pe.ne.tʁas/ |
pénétrât /pe.ne.tʁa/ |
pénétrassions /pe.ne.tʁa.sjɔ̃/ |
pénétrassiez /pe.ne.tʁa.sje/ |
pénétrassent /pe.ne.tʁas/ |
|
| 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 | – | |
| — | pénètre /pe.nɛtʁ/ |
— | pénétrons /pe.ne.tʁɔ̃/ |
pénétrez /pe.ne.tʁe/ |
— | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||