guetter
French
Etymology
From Old French gaitier, guaitier, from Frankish *wahtōn, *wahtjan (“to watch, guard”), derivative of *wahta (“guard, watch”), from Proto-Germanic *wahtwō (“guard, watch”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- (“to be fresh, cheerful, awake”). Compare English wait, ultimately from the same origin through an Anglo-Norman/Old Northern French variant.
Pronunciation
Verb
guetter
- (transitive) to watch (intently), to watch for, to lie in wait
- Le chat guette la souris. ― The cat lies in wait for the mouse.
- Des gendarmes le guettent. ― The Gendarmes lie in wait for him
- (transitive, figurative) to await in order to seize
- guetter une occasion ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- (transitive, figurative) to menace, to loom (to appear in a threatening form)
- La mort le guette. ― Death hangs over him.
- 1997, Bernard Fauconnier, chapter 3, in Kaïros, Grasset:
- J’avais acheté une vieille 4L dont les cardans exténués rendaient d’inquiétants sons de castagnettes et je roulais des journées entières sur des routes où la mort guettait à chaque virage.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
Conjugation
Conjugation of guetter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | guetter | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | guettant /ɡɛ.tɑ̃/ or /ɡe.tɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | guetté /ɡɛ.te/ or /ɡe.te/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | guette /ɡɛt/ |
guettes /ɡɛt/ |
guette /ɡɛt/ |
guettons /ɡɛ.tɔ̃/ or /ɡe.tɔ̃/ |
guettez /ɡɛ.te/ or /ɡe.te/ |
guettent /ɡɛt/ |
| imperfect | guettais /ɡɛ.tɛ/ or /ɡe.tɛ/ |
guettais /ɡɛ.tɛ/ or /ɡe.tɛ/ |
guettait /ɡɛ.tɛ/ or /ɡe.tɛ/ |
guettions /ɡɛ.tjɔ̃/ or /ɡe.tjɔ̃/ |
guettiez /ɡɛ.tje/ or /ɡe.tje/ |
guettaient /ɡɛ.tɛ/ or /ɡe.tɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | guettai /ɡɛ.te/ or /ɡe.te/ |
guettas /ɡɛ.ta/ or /ɡe.ta/ |
guetta /ɡɛ.ta/ or /ɡe.ta/ |
guettâmes /ɡɛ.tam/ or /ɡe.tam/ |
guettâtes /ɡɛ.tat/ or /ɡe.tat/ |
guettèrent /ɡɛ.tɛʁ/ or /ɡe.tɛʁ/ | |
| future | guetterai /ɡɛ.tʁe/ or /ɡe.tʁe/ |
guetteras /ɡɛ.tʁa/ or /ɡe.tʁa/ |
guettera /ɡɛ.tʁa/ or /ɡe.tʁa/ |
guetterons /ɡɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /ɡe.tʁɔ̃/ |
guetterez /ɡɛ.tʁe/ or /ɡe.tʁe/ |
guetteront /ɡɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /ɡe.tʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | guetterais /ɡɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ɡe.tʁɛ/ |
guetterais /ɡɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ɡe.tʁɛ/ |
guetterait /ɡɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ɡe.tʁɛ/ |
guetterions /ɡɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɡe.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
guetteriez /ɡɛ.tə.ʁje/ or /ɡe.tə.ʁje/ |
guetteraient /ɡɛ.tʁɛ/ or /ɡe.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 | guette /ɡɛt/ |
guettes /ɡɛt/ |
guette /ɡɛt/ |
guettions /ɡɛ.tjɔ̃/ or /ɡe.tjɔ̃/ |
guettiez /ɡɛ.tje/ or /ɡe.tje/ |
guettent /ɡɛt/ |
| imperfect2 | guettasse /ɡɛ.tas/ or /ɡe.tas/ |
guettasses /ɡɛ.tas/ or /ɡe.tas/ |
guettât /ɡɛ.ta/ or /ɡe.ta/ |
guettassions /ɡɛ.ta.sjɔ̃/ or /ɡe.ta.sjɔ̃/ |
guettassiez /ɡɛ.ta.sje/ or /ɡe.ta.sje/ |
guettassent /ɡɛ.tas/ or /ɡe.tas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | guette /ɡɛt/ |
— | guettons /ɡɛ.tɔ̃/ or /ɡe.tɔ̃/ |
guettez /ɡɛ.te/ or /ɡe.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 [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms
Related terms
- guet-apens (“ambush”)
- guet
Descendants
- Saint Dominican Creole French: gueté
Further reading
- “guetter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- “guetter” in Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française, 1872–1877.
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