alterner

French

Etymology

From Latin alternāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /al.tɛʁ.ne/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

alterner

1. to alternate

Conjugation

Conjugation of alterner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	alterner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	alternant /al.tɛʁ.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		alterné /al.tɛʁ.ne/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	alterne /al.tɛʁn/	alternes /al.tɛʁn/	alterne /al.tɛʁn/	alternons /al.tɛʁ.nɔ̃/	alternez /al.tɛʁ.ne/	alternent /al.tɛʁn/
	imperfect	alternais /al.tɛʁ.nɛ/	alternais /al.tɛʁ.nɛ/	alternait /al.tɛʁ.nɛ/	alternions /al.tɛʁ.njɔ̃/	alterniez /al.tɛʁ.nje/	alternaient /al.tɛʁ.nɛ/
	past historic2	alternai /al.tɛʁ.ne/	alternas /al.tɛʁ.na/	alterna /al.tɛʁ.na/	alternâmes /al.tɛʁ.nam/	alternâtes /al.tɛʁ.nat/	alternèrent /al.tɛʁ.nɛʁ/
	future	alternerai /al.tɛʁ.nə.ʁe/	alterneras /al.tɛʁ.nə.ʁa/	alternera /al.tɛʁ.nə.ʁa/	alternerons /al.tɛʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃/	alternerez /al.tɛʁ.nə.ʁe/	alterneront /al.tɛʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	alternerais /al.tɛʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	alternerais /al.tɛʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	alternerait /al.tɛʁ.nə.ʁɛ/	alternerions /al.tɛʁ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/	alterneriez /al.tɛʁ.nə.ʁje/	alterneraient /al.tɛʁ.nə.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	alterne /al.tɛʁn/	alternes /al.tɛʁn/	alterne /al.tɛʁn/	alternions /al.tɛʁ.njɔ̃/	alterniez /al.tɛʁ.nje/	alternent /al.tɛʁn/
	imperfect2	alternasse /al.tɛʁ.nas/	alternasses /al.tɛʁ.nas/	alternât /al.tɛʁ.na/	alternassions /al.tɛʁ.na.sjɔ̃/	alternassiez /al.tɛʁ.na.sje/	alternassent /al.tɛʁ.nas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	alterne /al.tɛʁn/	—	alternons /al.tɛʁ.nɔ̃/	alternez /al.tɛʁ.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).

Derived terms

• alternance
• alternateur
• circulation alternée
• garde alternée

Related terms

• alternatif

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• râlèrent

Latin

Verb

alterner

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of alternō

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

alterner

1. imperative of alternere