alimenter

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French

Etymology

From aliment +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /a.li.mɑ̃.te/
  • Audio(file)

Verb

alimenter

  1. to feed, to give food to
    Synonyms: nourrir, repaître, donner à manger, sustenter
    Antonym: affamer
    • 1933, Joseph Malègue, Augustin ou le maître est là, page 384:
      Alimentez-le, Madame, ce malade-là (...) De braves petits plats, œufs frais, bonne viande. Il aime les nouilles ? Oui ? Donnez-lui en.
      Madam, feed that patient (...) Nice little meals, fresh eggs, some nice meat. He likes noodles? He does? Give him some.
  2. to supply, to fund
    Synonym: approvisionner
    • 1962, Bertrand Goldschmidt, L'Aventure atomique, page 92:
      Ces nouvelles ressources en uranium vont servir à alimenter trois usines, les plus coûteuses du monde, qui vont être construites à partir de 1951, par l’industrie privée.
      Those new sources of uranium will be used to supply three factories, the costliest in the world, which will be built from 1951 onward by the private industry.
  3. (figurative) to fuel, feed (e.g. an argument)
    Synonym: nourrir
    • 1922, Marcel Proust, À la recherche du temps perdu, page 635:
      M. de Norpois rompit enfin le silence pour prononcer ces mots qui devaient pendant vingt ans alimenter la conversation des chancelleries ...
      Mr de Norpois finally broke the silence to utter those words that will feed the conversations of chancelleries for twenty years...
  4. (reflexive) to eat, to feed
    • 1928, Roger Martin du Gard, Les Thibault, page 1196:
      M. Thibault qui ne s’alimentait plus, était très faible, et ne cessait pas de souffrir.
      Mr Thibault – who had stopped eating by now – was very weak and couldn't stop suffering.

Conjugation

Conjugation of alimenter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple alimenter
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple alimentant
/a.li.mɑ̃.tɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle alimenté
/a.li.mɑ̃.te/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present alimente
/a.li.mɑ̃t/ 		alimentes
/a.li.mɑ̃t/ 		alimente
/a.li.mɑ̃t/ 		alimentons
/a.li.mɑ̃.tɔ̃/ 		alimentez
/a.li.mɑ̃.te/ 		alimentent
/a.li.mɑ̃t/
imperfect alimentais
/a.li.mɑ̃.tɛ/ 		alimentais
/a.li.mɑ̃.tɛ/ 		alimentait
/a.li.mɑ̃.tɛ/ 		alimentions
/a.li.mɑ̃.tjɔ̃/ 		alimentiez
/a.li.mɑ̃.tje/ 		alimentaient
/a.li.mɑ̃.tɛ/
past historic2 alimentai
/a.li.mɑ̃.te/ 		alimentas
/a.li.mɑ̃.ta/ 		alimenta
/a.li.mɑ̃.ta/ 		alimentâmes
/a.li.mɑ̃.tam/ 		alimentâtes
/a.li.mɑ̃.tat/ 		alimentèrent
/a.li.mɑ̃.tɛʁ/
future alimenterai
/a.li.mɑ̃.tʁe/ 		alimenteras
/a.li.mɑ̃.tʁa/ 		alimentera
/a.li.mɑ̃.tʁa/ 		alimenterons
/a.li.mɑ̃.tʁɔ̃/ 		alimenterez
/a.li.mɑ̃.tʁe/ 		alimenteront
/a.li.mɑ̃.tʁɔ̃/
conditional alimenterais
/a.li.mɑ̃.tʁɛ/ 		alimenterais
/a.li.mɑ̃.tʁɛ/ 		alimenterait
/a.li.mɑ̃.tʁɛ/ 		alimenterions
/a.li.mɑ̃.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ 		alimenteriez
/a.li.mɑ̃.tə.ʁje/ 		alimenteraient
/a.li.mɑ̃.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 alimente
/a.li.mɑ̃t/ 		alimentes
/a.li.mɑ̃t/ 		alimente
/a.li.mɑ̃t/ 		alimentions
/a.li.mɑ̃.tjɔ̃/ 		alimentiez
/a.li.mɑ̃.tje/ 		alimentent
/a.li.mɑ̃t/
imperfect2 alimentasse
/a.li.mɑ̃.tas/ 		alimentasses
/a.li.mɑ̃.tas/ 		alimentât
/a.li.mɑ̃.ta/ 		alimentassions
/a.li.mɑ̃.ta.sjɔ̃/ 		alimentassiez
/a.li.mɑ̃.ta.sje/ 		alimentassent
/a.li.mɑ̃.tas/
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — alimente
/a.li.mɑ̃t/ 		— alimentons
/a.li.mɑ̃.tɔ̃/ 		alimentez
/a.li.mɑ̃.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:
  • past historic → present perfect
  • past anterior → pluperfect
  • imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive
  • pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive

(Christopher Kendris , Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Conjugation of s'alimenter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple s'alimenter
compound s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple s’alimentant
/sa.li.mɑ̃.tɑ̃/
compound ayant or étant + past participle
past participle alimenté
/a.li.mɑ̃.te/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present m’alimente
/ma.li.mɑ̃t/ 		t’alimentes
/ta.li.mɑ̃t/ 		s’alimente
/sa.li.mɑ̃t/ 		nous alimentons
/nu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tɔ̃/ 		vous alimentez
/vu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.te/ 		s’alimentent
/sa.li.mɑ̃t/
imperfect m’alimentais
/ma.li.mɑ̃.tɛ/ 		t’alimentais
/ta.li.mɑ̃.tɛ/ 		s’alimentait
/sa.li.mɑ̃.tɛ/ 		nous alimentions
/nu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tjɔ̃/ 		vous alimentiez
/vu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tje/ 		s’alimentaient
/sa.li.mɑ̃.tɛ/
past historic2 m’alimentai
/ma.li.mɑ̃.te/ 		t’alimentas
/ta.li.mɑ̃.ta/ 		s’alimenta
/sa.li.mɑ̃.ta/ 		nous alimentâmes
/nu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tam/ 		vous alimentâtes
/vu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tat/ 		s’alimentèrent
/sa.li.mɑ̃.tɛʁ/
future m’alimenterai
/ma.li.mɑ̃.tʁe/ 		t’alimenteras
/ta.li.mɑ̃.tʁa/ 		s’alimentera
/sa.li.mɑ̃.tʁa/ 		nous alimenterons
/nu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tʁɔ̃/ 		vous alimenterez
/vu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tʁe/ 		s’alimenteront
/sa.li.mɑ̃.tʁɔ̃/
conditional m’alimenterais
/ma.li.mɑ̃.tʁɛ/ 		t’alimenterais
/ta.li.mɑ̃.tʁɛ/ 		s’alimenterait
/sa.li.mɑ̃.tʁɛ/ 		nous alimenterions
/nu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ 		vous alimenteriez
/vu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tə.ʁje/ 		s’alimenteraient
/sa.li.mɑ̃.tʁɛ/
(compound
tenses) 		present perfect present indicative of s'être + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
past anterior2 past historic of s'être + past participle
future perfect future of s'être + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive que je (j’) que tu qu’il, qu’elle que nous que vous qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple
tenses) 		present m’alimente
/ma.li.mɑ̃t/ 		t’alimentes
/ta.li.mɑ̃t/ 		s’alimente
/sa.li.mɑ̃t/ 		nous alimentions
/nu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tjɔ̃/ 		vous alimentiez
/vu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.tje/ 		s’alimentent
/sa.li.mɑ̃t/
imperfect2 m’alimentasse
/ma.li.mɑ̃.tas/ 		t’alimentasses
/ta.li.mɑ̃.tas/ 		s’alimentât
/sa.li.mɑ̃.ta/ 		nous alimentassions
/nu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.ta.sjɔ̃/ 		vous alimentassiez
/vu.z‿a.li.mɑ̃.ta.sje/ 		s’alimentassent
/sa.li.mɑ̃.tas/
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — alimente-toi
/a.li.mɑ̃t.twa/ 		— alimentons-nous
/a.li.mɑ̃.tɔ̃.nu/ 		alimentez-vous
/a.li.mɑ̃.te.vu/ 		—
compound — simple imperative of s'être + past participle — simple imperative of s'être + past participle simple imperative of s'être + 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 , Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Related terms

Further reading

Anagrams

Middle French

Verb

alimenter

  1. to feed; to provide nourishment

Conjugation

  • Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.
Conjugation of alimenter
infinitive simple alimenter
compound avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2 simple alimentant
compound present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle alimenté
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative ie (i’) tu il, elle nous vous ilz, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present alimente alimentes alimente alimentons alimentez alimentent
imperfect alimentois, alimentoys alimentois, alimentoys alimentoit, alimentoyt alimentions, alimentyons alimentiez, alimentyez alimentoient, alimentoyent
past historic alimenta alimentas alimenta alimentasmes alimentastes alimenterent
future alimenterai, alimenteray alimenteras alimentera alimenterons alimenterez alimenteront
conditional alimenterois, alimenteroys alimenterois, alimenteroys alimenteroit, alimenteroyt alimenterions, alimenteryons alimenteriez, alimenteryez alimenteroient, alimenteroyent
(compound
tenses) 		present perfect present indicative of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
past anterior past historic of avoir + past participle
future perfect future of avoir + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive que ie (i’) que tu qu’il, qu’elle que nous que vous qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple
tenses) 		present alimente alimentes alimente alimentons alimentez alimentent
imperfect alimentasse alimentasses alimentast alimentassions alimentassiez alimentassent
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — alimente — alimentons alimentez —
compound — simple imperative of avoir + past participle — simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle —
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château , Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château , op. cit., p. 180).

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