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Definition 2025
tâtonner
tâtonner
French
Verb
tâtonner
- (intransitive) to feel one's way, grope around
 
Conjugation
  Conjugation of tâtonner (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | tâtonner | avoir tâtonné | |||||
| gerund | en tâtonnant | en ayant tâtonné | |||||
| present participle |  tâtonnant /tɑ.tɔ.nɑ̃/  | 
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| past participle |  tâtonné /tɑ.tɔ.ne/  | 
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| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
|  simple tenses  | 
present |  tâtonne /tɑ.tɔn/  | 
 tâtonnes /tɑ.tɔn/  | 
 tâtonne /tɑ.tɔn/  | 
 tâtonnons /tɑ.tɔ.nɔ̃/  | 
 tâtonnez /tɑ.tɔ.ne/  | 
 tâtonnent /tɑ.tɔn/  | 
| imperfect |  tâtonnais /tɑ.tɔ.nɛ/  | 
 tâtonnais /tɑ.tɔ.nɛ/  | 
 tâtonnait /tɑ.tɔ.nɛ/  | 
 tâtonnions /tɑ.tɔ.njɔ̃/  | 
 tâtonniez /tɑ.tɔ.nje/  | 
 tâtonnaient /tɑ.tɔ.nɛ/  | 
|
| past historic1 |  tâtonnai /tɑ.tɔ.ne/  | 
tâtonnas /tɑ.tɔ.na/  | 
tâtonna /tɑ.tɔ.na/  | 
tâtonnâmes /tɑ.tɔ.nam/  | 
tâtonnâtes /tɑ.tɔ.nat/  | 
tâtonnèrent /tɑ.tɔ.nɛʁ/  | 
|
| future |  tâtonnerai /tɑ.tɔn.ʁe/  | 
 tâtonneras /tɑ.tɔn.ʁa/  | 
 tâtonnera /tɑ.tɔn.ʁa/  | 
 tâtonnerons /tɑ.tɔn.ʁɔ̃/  | 
 tâtonnerez /tɑ.tɔn.ʁe/  | 
 tâtonneront /tɑ.tɔn.ʁɔ̃/  | 
|
| conditional |  tâtonnerais /tɑ.tɔn.ʁɛ/  | 
 tâtonnerais /tɑ.tɔn.ʁɛ/  | 
 tâtonnerait /tɑ.tɔn.ʁɛ/  | 
 tâtonnerions /tɑ.tɔ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/  | 
 tâtonneriez /tɑ.tɔ.nə.ʁje/  | 
 tâtonneraient /tɑ.tɔn.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 |  tâtonne /tɑ.tɔn/  | 
 tâtonnes /tɑ.tɔn/  | 
 tâtonne /tɑ.tɔn/  | 
 tâtonnions /tɑ.tɔ.njɔ̃/  | 
 tâtonniez /tɑ.tɔ.nje/  | 
 tâtonnent /tɑ.tɔn/  | 
| imperfect1 | 
tâtonnasse /tɑ.tɔ.nas/  | 
tâtonnasses /tɑ.tɔ.nas/  | 
tâtonnât /tɑ.tɔ.na/  | 
tâtonnassions /tɑ.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃/  | 
tâtonnassiez /tɑ.tɔ.na.sje/  | 
tâtonnassent /tɑ.tɔ.nas/  | 
|
|  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 | – | |
| — |  tâtonne /tɑ.tɔn/  | 
— |  tâtonnons /tɑ.tɔ.nɔ̃/  | 
 tâtonnez /tɑ.tɔ.ne/  | 
— | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||