refléter
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refléter
French
Pronunciation
Verb
refléter
- to reflect (to mirror, or show the image of something)
Conjugation
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 refléter-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written reflèter-, 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.
Conjugation of refléter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | refléter | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | reflétant /ʁə.fle.tɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | reflété /ʁə.fle.te/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | reflète /ʁə.flɛt/ |
reflètes /ʁə.flɛt/ |
reflète /ʁə.flɛt/ |
reflétons /ʁə.fle.tɔ̃/ |
reflétez /ʁə.fle.te/ |
reflètent /ʁə.flɛt/ |
| imperfect | reflétais /ʁə.fle.tɛ/ |
reflétais /ʁə.fle.tɛ/ |
reflétait /ʁə.fle.tɛ/ |
reflétions /ʁə.fle.tjɔ̃/ |
reflétiez /ʁə.fle.tje/ |
reflétaient /ʁə.fle.tɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | reflétai /ʁə.fle.te/ |
reflétas /ʁə.fle.ta/ |
refléta /ʁə.fle.ta/ |
reflétâmes /ʁə.fle.tam/ |
reflétâtes /ʁə.fle.tat/ |
reflétèrent /ʁə.fle.tɛʁ/ | |
| future | reflèterai or refléterai /ʁə.flɛ.tʁe/ or /ʁə.fle.tʁe/ |
reflèteras or refléteras /ʁə.flɛ.tʁa/ or /ʁə.fle.tʁa/ |
reflètera or reflétera /ʁə.flɛ.tʁa/ or /ʁə.fle.tʁa/ |
reflèterons or refléterons /ʁə.flɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /ʁə.fle.tʁɔ̃/ |
reflèterez or refléterez /ʁə.flɛ.tʁe/ or /ʁə.fle.tʁe/ |
reflèteront or refléteront /ʁə.flɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /ʁə.fle.tʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | reflèterais or refléterais /ʁə.flɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ʁə.fle.tʁɛ/ |
reflèterais or refléterais /ʁə.flɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ʁə.fle.tʁɛ/ |
reflèterait or refléterait /ʁə.flɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ʁə.fle.tʁɛ/ |
reflèterions or refléterions /ʁə.flɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ʁə.fle.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
reflèteriez or refléteriez /ʁə.flɛ.tə.ʁje/ or /ʁə.fle.tə.ʁje/ |
reflèteraient or refléteraient /ʁə.flɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ʁə.fle.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 | reflète /ʁə.flɛt/ |
reflètes /ʁə.flɛt/ |
reflète /ʁə.flɛt/ |
reflétions /ʁə.fle.tjɔ̃/ |
reflétiez /ʁə.fle.tje/ |
reflètent /ʁə.flɛt/ |
| imperfect2 | reflétasse /ʁə.fle.tas/ |
reflétasses /ʁə.fle.tas/ |
reflétât /ʁə.fle.ta/ |
reflétassions /ʁə.fle.ta.sjɔ̃/ |
reflétassiez /ʁə.fle.ta.sje/ |
reflétassent /ʁə.fle.tas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | reflète /ʁə.flɛt/ |
— | reflétons /ʁə.fle.tɔ̃/ |
reflétez /ʁə.fle.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:
(Christopher Kendris , Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Further reading
- “refléter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.