écouter
See also: êcouter
French
Etymology
Inherited from Middle French escouter, from Old French escouter, from Latin ascultāre, variant of auscultāre. Doublet of ausculter, a borrowing from Latin.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /e.ku.te/
Audio: (file) Audio (Switzerland (Valais)): (file) Audio (France (Paris)): (file) Audio (France (Toulouse)): (file) Audio (France (Vosges)): (file) Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)): (file) Audio (France (Vosges)): (file) Audio (France (Lyon)): (file) Audio (France (Massy)): (file) Audio (France (Somain)): (file)
Verb
écouter
- (intransitive) to listen
- (transitive) to listen to
- J’écoute la radio.
- I am listening to the radio.
- (transitive, Canada) to watch (a film or television)
Conjugation
Conjugation of écouter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | écouter | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | écoutant /e.ku.tɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | écouté /e.ku.te/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | écoute /e.kut/ |
écoutes /e.kut/ |
écoute /e.kut/ |
écoutons /e.ku.tɔ̃/ |
écoutez /e.ku.te/ |
écoutent /e.kut/ |
| imperfect | écoutais /e.ku.tɛ/ |
écoutais /e.ku.tɛ/ |
écoutait /e.ku.tɛ/ |
écoutions /e.ku.tjɔ̃/ |
écoutiez /e.ku.tje/ |
écoutaient /e.ku.tɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | écoutai /e.ku.te/ |
écoutas /e.ku.ta/ |
écouta /e.ku.ta/ |
écoutâmes /e.ku.tam/ |
écoutâtes /e.ku.tat/ |
écoutèrent /e.ku.tɛʁ/ | |
| future | écouterai /e.ku.tʁe/ |
écouteras /e.ku.tʁa/ |
écoutera /e.ku.tʁa/ |
écouterons /e.ku.tʁɔ̃/ |
écouterez /e.ku.tʁe/ |
écouteront /e.ku.tʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | écouterais /e.ku.tʁɛ/ |
écouterais /e.ku.tʁɛ/ |
écouterait /e.ku.tʁɛ/ |
écouterions /e.ku.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
écouteriez /e.ku.tə.ʁje/ |
écouteraient /e.ku.tʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | écoute /e.kut/ |
écoutes /e.kut/ |
écoute /e.kut/ |
écoutions /e.ku.tjɔ̃/ |
écoutiez /e.ku.tje/ |
écoutent /e.kut/ |
| imperfect2 | écoutasse /e.ku.tas/ |
écoutasses /e.ku.tas/ |
écoutât /e.ku.ta/ |
écoutassions /e.ku.ta.sjɔ̃/ |
écoutassiez /e.ku.ta.sje/ |
écoutassent /e.ku.tas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | écoute /e.kut/ |
— | écoutons /e.ku.tɔ̃/ |
écoutez /e.ku.te/ |
— | |
| 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). | |||||||
Derived terms
Descendants
- Haitian Creole: koute
Further reading
- “écouter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012