Inherited from Old French sustraire, borrowed from Latin subtrahere (with conjugation modeled on traire), and altered based on influence from words like souscrire.
soustraire
This verb traditionally has no past historic or imperfect subjunctive. They would be formed on a -soustray- root: *je soustrayis, *que nous soustrayissions etc. Forms using the 'a' endings of verbs in -er are now used when there is an unavoidable need to use these forms. The root -soustrais- was used instead of -soustray- in the 18th century, and remains in Swiss and Savoy dialects.
| infinitive | simple | soustraire | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | soustrayant /sus.tʁɛ.jɑ̃/ or /sus.tʁe.jɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | soustrait /sus.tʁɛ/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | soustrais /sus.tʁɛ/ |
soustrais /sus.tʁɛ/ |
soustrait /sus.tʁɛ/ |
soustrayons /sus.tʁɛ.jɔ̃/ or /sus.tʁe.jɔ̃/ |
soustrayez /sus.tʁɛ.je/ or /sus.tʁe.je/ |
soustraient /sus.tʁɛ/ |
| imperfect | soustrayais /sus.tʁɛ.jɛ/ or /sus.tʁe.jɛ/ |
soustrayais /sus.tʁɛ.jɛ/ or /sus.tʁe.jɛ/ |
soustrayait /sus.tʁɛ.jɛ/ or /sus.tʁe.jɛ/ |
soustrayions /sus.tʁɛj.jɔ̃/ |
soustrayiez /sus.tʁɛj.je/ |
soustrayaient /sus.tʁɛ.jɛ/ or /sus.tʁe.jɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | soustrayai /sus.tʁɛe/ |
soustrayas /sus.tʁɛa/ |
soustraya /sus.tʁɛa/ |
soustrayâmes /sus.tʁɛam/ |
soustrayâtes /sus.tʁɛat/ |
soustrayèrent /sus.tʁɛɛʁ/ | |
| future | soustrairai /sus.tʁɛ.ʁe/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁe/ |
soustrairas /sus.tʁɛ.ʁa/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁa/ |
soustraira /sus.tʁɛ.ʁa/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁa/ |
soustrairons /sus.tʁɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁɔ̃/ |
soustrairez /sus.tʁɛ.ʁe/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁe/ |
soustrairont /sus.tʁɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | soustrairais /sus.tʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁɛ/ |
soustrairais /sus.tʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁɛ/ |
soustrairait /sus.tʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁɛ/ |
soustrairions /sus.tʁɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁjɔ̃/ |
soustrairiez /sus.tʁɛ.ʁje/ or /sus.tʁe.ʁje/ |
soustrairaient /sus.tʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /sus.tʁe.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 | soustraie /sus.tʁɛ/ |
soustraies /sus.tʁɛ/ |
soustraie /sus.tʁɛ/ |
soustrayions /sus.tʁɛj.jɔ̃/ |
soustrayiez /sus.tʁɛj.je/ |
soustraient /sus.tʁɛ/ |
| imperfect2 | soustrayasse /sus.tʁɛas/ |
soustrayasses /sus.tʁɛas/ |
soustrayât /sus.tʁɛa/ |
soustrayassions /sus.tʁɛa.sjɔ̃/ |
soustrayassiez /sus.tʁɛa.sje/ |
soustrayassent /sus.tʁɛas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | soustrais /sus.tʁɛ/ |
— | soustrayons /sus.tʁɛ.jɔ̃/ or /sus.tʁe.jɔ̃/ |
soustrayez /sus.tʁɛ.je/ or /sus.tʁe.je/ |
— | |
| 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). | |||||||
This verb traditionally has no past historic or imperfect subjunctive. They would be formed on a -soustray- root: *je soustrayis, *que nous soustrayissions etc. Forms using the 'a' endings of verbs in -er are now used when there is an unavoidable need to use these forms. The root -soustrais- was used instead of -soustray- in the 18th century, and remains in Swiss and Savoy dialects.
| infinitive | simple | se soustraire | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | s'être + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | se soustrayant /sə sus.tʁɛ.jɑ̃/ or /sə sus.tʁe.jɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant or étant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | soustrait /sus.tʁɛ/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | me soustrais /mə sus.tʁɛ/ |
te soustrais /tə sus.tʁɛ/ |
se soustrait /sə sus.tʁɛ/ |
nous soustrayons /nu sus.tʁɛ.jɔ̃/ or /nu sus.tʁe.jɔ̃/ |
vous soustrayez /vu sus.tʁɛ.je/ or /vu sus.tʁe.je/ |
se soustraient /sə sus.tʁɛ/ |
| imperfect | me soustrayais /mə sus.tʁɛ.jɛ/ or /mə sus.tʁe.jɛ/ |
te soustrayais /tə sus.tʁɛ.jɛ/ or /tə sus.tʁe.jɛ/ |
se soustrayait /sə sus.tʁɛ.jɛ/ or /sə sus.tʁe.jɛ/ |
nous soustrayions /nu sus.tʁɛj.jɔ̃/ |
vous soustrayiez /vu sus.tʁɛj.je/ |
se soustrayaient /sə sus.tʁɛ.jɛ/ or /sə sus.tʁe.jɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | me soustrayai /mə sus.tʁɛe/ |
te soustrayas /tə sus.tʁɛa/ |
se soustraya /sə sus.tʁɛa/ |
nous soustrayâmes /nu sus.tʁɛam/ |
vous soustrayâtes /vu sus.tʁɛat/ |
se soustrayèrent /sə sus.tʁɛɛʁ/ | |
| future | me soustrairai /mə sus.tʁɛ.ʁe/ or /mə sus.tʁe.ʁe/ |
te soustrairas /tə sus.tʁɛ.ʁa/ or /tə sus.tʁe.ʁa/ |
se soustraira /sə sus.tʁɛ.ʁa/ or /sə sus.tʁe.ʁa/ |
nous soustrairons /nu sus.tʁɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /nu sus.tʁe.ʁɔ̃/ |
vous soustrairez /vu sus.tʁɛ.ʁe/ or /vu sus.tʁe.ʁe/ |
se soustrairont /sə sus.tʁɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /sə sus.tʁe.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | me soustrairais /mə sus.tʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /mə sus.tʁe.ʁɛ/ |
te soustrairais /tə sus.tʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /tə sus.tʁe.ʁɛ/ |
se soustrairait /sə sus.tʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /sə sus.tʁe.ʁɛ/ |
nous soustrairions /nu sus.tʁɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /nu sus.tʁe.ʁjɔ̃/ |
vous soustrairiez /vu sus.tʁɛ.ʁje/ or /vu sus.tʁe.ʁje/ |
se soustrairaient /sə sus.tʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /sə sus.tʁe.ʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of s'être + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of s'être + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of s'être + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of s'être + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | me soustraie /mə sus.tʁɛ/ |
te soustraies /tə sus.tʁɛ/ |
se soustraie /sə sus.tʁɛ/ |
nous soustrayions /nu sus.tʁɛj.jɔ̃/ |
vous soustrayiez /vu sus.tʁɛj.je/ |
se soustraient /sə sus.tʁɛ/ |
| imperfect2 | me soustrayasse /mə sus.tʁɛas/ |
te soustrayasses /tə sus.tʁɛas/ |
se soustrayât /sə sus.tʁɛa/ |
nous soustrayassions /nu sus.tʁɛa.sjɔ̃/ |
vous soustrayassiez /vu sus.tʁɛa.sje/ |
se soustrayassent /sə sus.tʁɛas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of s'être + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | soustrais-toi /sus.tʁɛ.twa/ |
— | soustrayons-nous /sus.tʁɛ.jɔ̃.nu/ or /sus.tʁe.jɔ̃.nu/ |
soustrayez-vous /sus.tʁɛ.je.vu/ or /sus.tʁe.je.vu/ |
— | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of s'être + past participle | — | simple imperative of s'être + past participle | simple imperative of s'être + 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). | |||||||