Borrowed from Latin lēgāre, from lex (“law”) (whence loi).
léguer
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 léguer-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written lèguer-, 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 | léguer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | léguant /le.ɡɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | légué /le.ɡe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | lègue /lɛɡ/ |
lègues /lɛɡ/ |
lègue /lɛɡ/ |
léguons /le.ɡɔ̃/ |
léguez /le.ɡe/ |
lèguent /lɛɡ/ |
| imperfect | léguais /le.ɡɛ/ |
léguais /le.ɡɛ/ |
léguait /le.ɡɛ/ |
léguions /le.ɡjɔ̃/ |
léguiez /le.ɡje/ |
léguaient /le.ɡɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | léguai /le.ɡe/ |
léguas /le.ɡa/ |
légua /le.ɡa/ |
léguâmes /le.ɡam/ |
léguâtes /le.ɡat/ |
léguèrent /le.ɡɛʁ/ | |
| future | lèguerai or léguerai /lɛ.ɡʁe/ or /le.ɡʁe/ |
lègueras or légueras /lɛ.ɡʁa/ or /le.ɡʁa/ |
lèguera or léguera /lɛ.ɡʁa/ or /le.ɡʁa/ |
lèguerons or léguerons /lɛ.ɡʁɔ̃/ or /le.ɡʁɔ̃/ |
lèguerez or léguerez /lɛ.ɡʁe/ or /le.ɡʁe/ |
lègueront or légueront /lɛ.ɡʁɔ̃/ or /le.ɡʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | lèguerais or léguerais /lɛ.ɡʁɛ/ or /le.ɡʁɛ/ |
lèguerais or léguerais /lɛ.ɡʁɛ/ or /le.ɡʁɛ/ |
lèguerait or léguerait /lɛ.ɡʁɛ/ or /le.ɡʁɛ/ |
lèguerions or léguerions /lɛ.ɡə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /le.ɡə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
lègueriez or légueriez /lɛ.ɡə.ʁje/ or /le.ɡə.ʁje/ |
lègueraient or légueraient /lɛ.ɡʁɛ/ or /le.ɡʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | lègue /lɛɡ/ |
lègues /lɛɡ/ |
lègue /lɛɡ/ |
léguions /le.ɡjɔ̃/ |
léguiez /le.ɡje/ |
lèguent /lɛɡ/ |
| imperfect2 | léguasse /le.ɡas/ |
léguasses /le.ɡas/ |
léguât /le.ɡa/ |
léguassions /le.ɡa.sjɔ̃/ |
léguassiez /le.ɡa.sje/ |
léguassent /le.ɡas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | lègue /lɛɡ/ |
— | léguons /le.ɡɔ̃/ |
léguez /le.ɡe/ |
— | |
| 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). | |||||||