compter

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English

Pronunciation

Noun

compter (plural compters)

  1. (obsolete) A counter (token used for keeping count).
    • 1623, William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale:
      Let me see: every 'leven wether tods, every tod yields pound and odd shilling; fifteen hundred shorn, what comes the wool to? […] I cannot do't without compters.
  2. (historical) A prison attached to a city court; a counter.
    • 2003, John Hamilton Baker, The Oxford History of the Laws of England, Oxford University Press, page 284:
      Each sheriff had his own compter, which were both prisons and offices, administered by the respective secondaries.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French compter, conter, from Old French compter, conter, cunter, from Latin computāre. Doublet of conter and computer.

The learned spelling -mpt- was originally used interchangeably with the phonetic spelling -nt-. In modern French they have been split in such a way that the Latinizing form represents the sense “to count”, which was already present in Latin, while the native form represents the derived sense “to tell” (see conter).

Pronunciation

Verb

compter

  1. (transitive, intransitive) to count
  2. (transitive) to reckon, allow
    Pour se rendre jusque là, il faut compter deux bonnes heures. ― To get there, it takes two good hours.
  3. (transitive) to include; to comprise, to consist of
    Je ne l’ai pas comptée dans le calcul. ― I did not include it in the calculation.
  4. (transitive) to comprise, to consist of
    Une semaine compte 7 [sept] jours divisés en 24 [vingt-quatre] heures. ― A week consists of 7 days divided to 24 hours.
  5. (intransitive) to matter
    La seule chose qui compte pour Jim, c’est d’être riche. ― The only thing that matters to Jim is being rich.
  6. (catenative) to intend, plan
    Tu comptes partir à quelle heure ? ― At what time do you intend to leave?
  7. to count on
    Je compte sur toi ! ― I'm counting on you!

Conjugation

Conjugation of compter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple compter
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple comptant
/kɔ̃.tɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle compté
/kɔ̃.te/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present compte
/kɔ̃t/ 		comptes
/kɔ̃t/ 		compte
/kɔ̃t/ 		comptons
/kɔ̃.tɔ̃/ 		comptez
/kɔ̃.te/ 		comptent
/kɔ̃t/
imperfect comptais
/kɔ̃.tɛ/ 		comptais
/kɔ̃.tɛ/ 		comptait
/kɔ̃.tɛ/ 		comptions
/kɔ̃.tjɔ̃/ 		comptiez
/kɔ̃.tje/ 		comptaient
/kɔ̃.tɛ/
past historic2 comptai
/kɔ̃.te/ 		comptas
/kɔ̃.ta/ 		compta
/kɔ̃.ta/ 		comptâmes
/kɔ̃.tam/ 		comptâtes
/kɔ̃.tat/ 		comptèrent
/kɔ̃.tɛʁ/
future compterai
/kɔ̃.tʁe/ 		compteras
/kɔ̃.tʁa/ 		comptera
/kɔ̃.tʁa/ 		compterons
/kɔ̃.tʁɔ̃/ 		compterez
/kɔ̃.tʁe/ 		compteront
/kɔ̃.tʁɔ̃/
conditional compterais
/kɔ̃.tʁɛ/ 		compterais
/kɔ̃.tʁɛ/ 		compterait
/kɔ̃.tʁɛ/ 		compterions
/kɔ̃.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ 		compteriez
/kɔ̃.tə.ʁje/ 		compteraient
/kɔ̃.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 compte
/kɔ̃t/ 		comptes
/kɔ̃t/ 		compte
/kɔ̃t/ 		comptions
/kɔ̃.tjɔ̃/ 		comptiez
/kɔ̃.tje/ 		comptent
/kɔ̃t/
imperfect2 comptasse
/kɔ̃.tas/ 		comptasses
/kɔ̃.tas/ 		comptât
/kɔ̃.ta/ 		comptassions
/kɔ̃.ta.sjɔ̃/ 		comptassiez
/kɔ̃.ta.sje/ 		comptassent
/kɔ̃.tas/
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — compte
/kɔ̃t/ 		— comptons
/kɔ̃.tɔ̃/ 		comptez
/kɔ̃.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).

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French conter, respelled to reflect Latin computō, computāre.

Verb

compter

  1. to recount; to tell

Conjugation

  • Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.
Conjugation of compter
infinitive simple compter
compound avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2 simple comptant
compound present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle compté
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative ie (i’) tu il, elle nous vous ilz, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present compte comptes compte comptons comptez comptent
imperfect comptois, comptoys comptois, comptoys comptoit, comptoyt comptions, comptyons comptiez, comptyez comptoient, comptoyent
past historic compta comptas compta comptasmes comptastes compterent
future compterai, compteray compteras comptera compterons compterez compteront
conditional compterois, compteroys compterois, compteroys compteroit, compteroyt compterions, compteryons compteriez, compteryez compteroient, compteroyent
(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 compte comptes compte comptons comptez comptent
imperfect comptasse comptasses comptast comptassions comptassiez comptassent
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — compte — comptons comptez —
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).

Related terms

Descendants

  • French: compter, conter (separate verbs in modern French)
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