Inherited from Middle French neiger, from Old French negier, from Vulgar Latin *nivicāre, a verb based on Latin nivem (“snow”, noun). Compare Italian nevicare.
neiger (impersonal)
This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written neige- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a "soft" /ʒ/ and not a "hard" /ɡ/). This spelling change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as bouger and manger. This verb is impersonal and is conjugated only in the third-person singular.
| infinitive | simple | neiger | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | neigeant /nɛ.ʒɑ̃/ or /ne.ʒɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | neigé /nɛ.ʒe/ or /ne.ʒe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | — | — | neige /nɛʒ/ |
— | — | — |
| imperfect | — | — | neigeait /nɛ.ʒɛ/ or /ne.ʒɛ/ |
— | — | — | |
| past historic2 | — | — | neigea /nɛ.ʒa/ or /ne.ʒa/ |
— | — | — | |
| future | — | — | neigera /nɛʒ.ʁa/ |
— | — | — | |
| conditional | — | — | neigerait /nɛʒ.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 | — | — | neige /nɛʒ/ |
— | — | — |
| imperfect2 | — | — | neigeât /nɛ.ʒa/ or /ne.ʒa/ |
— | — | — | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 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). | |||||||