expliquer
French
Etymology
From Middle French expliquer (14th c.), a borrowing from Latin explicāre. Doublet of éployer.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɛks.pli.ke/, /ɛk.spli.ke/, (informal) /ɛs.pli.ke/
Audio: (file) - Homophones: expliquai, expliqué, expliquée, expliquées, expliqués, expliquez
Verb
expliquer
- to explain
Conjugation
Conjugation of expliquer (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | expliquer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | expliquant /ɛk.spli.kɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | expliqué /ɛk.spli.ke/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | explique /ɛk.splik/ |
expliques /ɛk.splik/ |
explique /ɛk.splik/ |
expliquons /ɛk.spli.kɔ̃/ |
expliquez /ɛk.spli.ke/ |
expliquent /ɛk.splik/ |
| imperfect | expliquais /ɛk.spli.kɛ/ |
expliquais /ɛk.spli.kɛ/ |
expliquait /ɛk.spli.kɛ/ |
expliquions /ɛk.spli.kjɔ̃/ |
expliquiez /ɛk.spli.kje/ |
expliquaient /ɛk.spli.kɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | expliquai /ɛk.spli.ke/ |
expliquas /ɛk.spli.ka/ |
expliqua /ɛk.spli.ka/ |
expliquâmes /ɛk.spli.kam/ |
expliquâtes /ɛk.spli.kat/ |
expliquèrent /ɛk.spli.kɛʁ/ | |
| future | expliquerai /ɛk.spli.kʁe/ |
expliqueras /ɛk.spli.kʁa/ |
expliquera /ɛk.spli.kʁa/ |
expliquerons /ɛk.spli.kʁɔ̃/ |
expliquerez /ɛk.spli.kʁe/ |
expliqueront /ɛk.spli.kʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | expliquerais /ɛk.spli.kʁɛ/ |
expliquerais /ɛk.spli.kʁɛ/ |
expliquerait /ɛk.spli.kʁɛ/ |
expliquerions /ɛk.spli.kə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
expliqueriez /ɛk.spli.kə.ʁje/ |
expliqueraient /ɛk.spli.kʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | explique /ɛk.splik/ |
expliques /ɛk.splik/ |
explique /ɛk.splik/ |
expliquions /ɛk.spli.kjɔ̃/ |
expliquiez /ɛk.spli.kje/ |
expliquent /ɛk.splik/ |
| imperfect2 | expliquasse /ɛk.spli.kas/ |
expliquasses /ɛk.spli.kas/ |
expliquât /ɛk.spli.ka/ |
expliquassions /ɛk.spli.ka.sjɔ̃/ |
expliquassiez /ɛk.spli.ka.sje/ |
expliquassent /ɛk.spli.kas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | explique /ɛk.splik/ |
— | expliquons /ɛk.spli.kɔ̃/ |
expliquez /ɛk.spli.ke/ |
— | |
| 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). | |||||||
Related terms
Descendants
- Haitian Creole: eksplike
- Louisiana Creole: expliqué
Further reading
- “expliquer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.