Inherited from Late Latin alleviāre.
alléger
This verb is conjugated like protéger. It has both the spelling irregularities of other verbs in -ger (such as manger, where a silent 'e' is inserted before 'a' and 'o' endings (to indicate the /ʒ/ sound), and the spelling and pronunciation irregularities of other verbs in -é-er (such as céder), where the last stem vowel alternates between /e/ (written 'é') and /ɛ/ (written 'è').
| infinitive | simple | alléger | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | allégeant /a.le.ʒɑ̃/ or /al.le.ʒɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | allégé /a.le.ʒe/ or /al.le.ʒe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | allège /a.lɛʒ/ or /al.lɛʒ/ |
allèges /a.lɛʒ/ or /al.lɛʒ/ |
allège /a.lɛʒ/ or /al.lɛʒ/ |
allégeons /a.le.ʒɔ̃/ or /al.le.ʒɔ̃/ |
allégez /a.le.ʒe/ or /al.le.ʒe/ |
allègent /a.lɛʒ/ or /al.lɛʒ/ |
| imperfect | allégeais /a.le.ʒɛ/ or /al.le.ʒɛ/ |
allégeais /a.le.ʒɛ/ or /al.le.ʒɛ/ |
allégeait /a.le.ʒɛ/ or /al.le.ʒɛ/ |
allégions /a.le.ʒjɔ̃/ or /al.le.ʒjɔ̃/ |
allégiez /a.le.ʒje/ or /al.le.ʒje/ |
allégeaient /a.le.ʒɛ/ or /al.le.ʒɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | allégeai /a.le.ʒe/ or /al.le.ʒe/ |
allégeas /a.le.ʒa/ or /al.le.ʒa/ |
allégea /a.le.ʒa/ or /al.le.ʒa/ |
allégeâmes /a.le.ʒam/ or /al.le.ʒam/ |
allégeâtes /a.le.ʒat/ or /al.le.ʒat/ |
allégèrent /a.le.ʒɛʁ/ or /al.le.ʒɛʁ/ | |
| future | allégerai or allègerai /a.lɛʒ.ʁe/ or /al.lɛʒ.ʁe/ |
allégeras or allègeras /a.lɛʒ.ʁa/ or /al.lɛʒ.ʁa/ |
allégera or allègera /a.lɛʒ.ʁa/ or /al.lɛʒ.ʁa/ |
allégerons or allègerons /a.lɛʒ.ʁɔ̃/ or /al.lɛʒ.ʁɔ̃/ |
allégerez or allègerez /a.lɛʒ.ʁe/ or /al.lɛʒ.ʁe/ |
allégeront or allègeront /a.lɛʒ.ʁɔ̃/ or /al.lɛʒ.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | allégerais or allègerais /a.lɛʒ.ʁɛ/ or /al.lɛʒ.ʁɛ/ |
allégerais or allègerais /a.lɛʒ.ʁɛ/ or /al.lɛʒ.ʁɛ/ |
allégerait or allègerait /a.lɛʒ.ʁɛ/ or /al.lɛʒ.ʁɛ/ |
allégerions or allègerions /a.lɛ.ʒə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /a.le.ʒə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /al.lɛ.ʒə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /al.le.ʒə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
allégeriez or allègeriez /a.lɛ.ʒə.ʁje/ or /a.le.ʒə.ʁje/ or /al.lɛ.ʒə.ʁje/ or /al.le.ʒə.ʁje/ |
allégeraient or allègeraient /a.lɛʒ.ʁɛ/ or /al.lɛʒ.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 | allège /a.lɛʒ/ or /al.lɛʒ/ |
allèges /a.lɛʒ/ or /al.lɛʒ/ |
allège /a.lɛʒ/ or /al.lɛʒ/ |
allégions /a.le.ʒjɔ̃/ or /al.le.ʒjɔ̃/ |
allégiez /a.le.ʒje/ or /al.le.ʒje/ |
allègent /a.lɛʒ/ or /al.lɛʒ/ |
| imperfect2 | allégeasse /a.le.ʒas/ or /al.le.ʒas/ |
allégeasses /a.le.ʒas/ or /al.le.ʒas/ |
allégeât /a.le.ʒa/ or /al.le.ʒa/ |
allégeassions /a.le.ʒa.sjɔ̃/ or /al.le.ʒa.sjɔ̃/ |
allégeassiez /a.le.ʒa.sje/ or /al.le.ʒa.sje/ |
allégeassent /a.le.ʒas/ or /al.le.ʒas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | allège /a.lɛʒ/ or /al.lɛʒ/ |
— | allégeons /a.le.ʒɔ̃/ or /al.le.ʒɔ̃/ |
allégez /a.le.ʒe/ or /al.le.ʒe/ |
— | |
| 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 , Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||