Borrowed from Latin celebrāre.
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célébrer
This verb is conjugated like céder. It is a regular -er verb, except that its last stem vowel alternates between /e/ (written 'é') and /ɛ/ (written 'è'), with the latter being used before mute 'e'. One special case is the future stem, used in the future and the conditional. Before 1990, the future stem of such verbs was written célébrer-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written célèbrer-, reflecting the now common pronunciation /ɛ/, thereby making this distinction consistent throughout the conjugation (and also matching in this regard the conjugations of verbs like lever and jeter). Both spellings are in use today, and both are therefore given here.
| infinitive | simple | célébrer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | célébrant /se.le.bʁɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | célébré /se.le.bʁe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | célèbre /se.lɛbʁ/ |
célèbres /se.lɛbʁ/ |
célèbre /se.lɛbʁ/ |
célébrons /se.le.bʁɔ̃/ |
célébrez /se.le.bʁe/ |
célèbrent /se.lɛbʁ/ |
| imperfect | célébrais /se.le.bʁɛ/ |
célébrais /se.le.bʁɛ/ |
célébrait /se.le.bʁɛ/ |
célébrions /se.le.bʁi.jɔ̃/ |
célébriez /se.le.bʁi.je/ |
célébraient /se.le.bʁɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | célébrai /se.le.bʁe/ |
célébras /se.le.bʁa/ |
célébra /se.le.bʁa/ |
célébrâmes /se.le.bʁam/ |
célébrâtes /se.le.bʁat/ |
célébrèrent /se.le.bʁɛʁ/ | |
| future | célèbrerai or célébrerai /se.lɛ.bʁə.ʁe/ or /se.le.bʁə.ʁe/ |
célèbreras or célébreras /se.lɛ.bʁə.ʁa/ or /se.le.bʁə.ʁa/ |
célèbrera or célébrera /se.lɛ.bʁə.ʁa/ or /se.le.bʁə.ʁa/ |
célèbrerons or célébrerons /se.lɛ.bʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /se.le.bʁə.ʁɔ̃/ |
célèbrerez or célébrerez /se.lɛ.bʁə.ʁe/ or /se.le.bʁə.ʁe/ |
célèbreront or célébreront /se.lɛ.bʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /se.le.bʁə.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | célèbrerais or célébrerais /se.lɛ.bʁə.ʁɛ/ or /se.le.bʁə.ʁɛ/ |
célèbrerais or célébrerais /se.lɛ.bʁə.ʁɛ/ or /se.le.bʁə.ʁɛ/ |
célèbrerait or célébrerait /se.lɛ.bʁə.ʁɛ/ or /se.le.bʁə.ʁɛ/ |
célèbrerions or célébrerions /se.lɛ.bʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /se.le.bʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
célèbreriez or célébreriez /se.lɛ.bʁə.ʁje/ or /se.le.bʁə.ʁje/ |
célèbreraient or célébreraient /se.lɛ.bʁə.ʁɛ/ or /se.le.bʁə.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 | célèbre /se.lɛbʁ/ |
célèbres /se.lɛbʁ/ |
célèbre /se.lɛbʁ/ |
célébrions /se.le.bʁi.jɔ̃/ |
célébriez /se.le.bʁi.je/ |
célèbrent /se.lɛbʁ/ |
| imperfect2 | célébrasse /se.le.bʁas/ |
célébrasses /se.le.bʁas/ |
célébrât /se.le.bʁa/ |
célébrassions /se.le.bʁa.sjɔ̃/ |
célébrassiez /se.le.bʁa.sje/ |
célébrassent /se.le.bʁas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | célèbre /se.lɛbʁ/ |
— | célébrons /se.le.bʁɔ̃/ |
célébrez /se.le.bʁe/ |
— | |
| 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). | |||||||