contourner
French
Etymology
Inherited from Vulgar Latin *contornāre, from cum and tornāre. Also con- + tourner.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kɔ̃.tuʁ.ne/
Audio: (file)
Verb
contourner
- to circumvent, to bypass, to skirt around
- to travel from one place to another, to visit several places
Conjugation
Conjugation of contourner (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | contourner | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | contournant /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | contourné /kɔ̃.tuʁ.ne/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | contourne /kɔ̃.tuʁn/ |
contournes /kɔ̃.tuʁn/ |
contourne /kɔ̃.tuʁn/ |
contournons /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nɔ̃/ |
contournez /kɔ̃.tuʁ.ne/ |
contournent /kɔ̃.tuʁn/ |
| imperfect | contournais /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nɛ/ |
contournais /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nɛ/ |
contournait /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nɛ/ |
contournions /kɔ̃.tuʁ.njɔ̃/ |
contourniez /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nje/ |
contournaient /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | contournai /kɔ̃.tuʁ.ne/ |
contournas /kɔ̃.tuʁ.na/ |
contourna /kɔ̃.tuʁ.na/ |
contournâmes /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nam/ |
contournâtes /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nat/ |
contournèrent /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nɛʁ/ | |
| future | contournerai /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁe/ |
contourneras /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁa/ |
contournera /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁa/ |
contournerons /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃/ |
contournerez /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁe/ |
contourneront /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | contournerais /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁɛ/ |
contournerais /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁɛ/ |
contournerait /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁɛ/ |
contournerions /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
contourneriez /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nə.ʁje/ |
contourneraient /kɔ̃.tuʁ.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 | contourne /kɔ̃.tuʁn/ |
contournes /kɔ̃.tuʁn/ |
contourne /kɔ̃.tuʁn/ |
contournions /kɔ̃.tuʁ.njɔ̃/ |
contourniez /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nje/ |
contournent /kɔ̃.tuʁn/ |
| imperfect2 | contournasse /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nas/ |
contournasses /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nas/ |
contournât /kɔ̃.tuʁ.na/ |
contournassions /kɔ̃.tuʁ.na.sjɔ̃/ |
contournassiez /kɔ̃.tuʁ.na.sje/ |
contournassent /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | contourne /kɔ̃.tuʁn/ |
— | contournons /kɔ̃.tuʁ.nɔ̃/ |
contournez /kɔ̃.tuʁ.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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Synonyms
- faire le tour
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “contourner”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.