épargner

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French espargnier, from Vulgar Latin sparāniāre (attested in the Reichenau Glossary), from Frankish *sparanjan, from Proto-West Germanic *sparēn (compare English spare).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.paʁ.ɲe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

épargner

1. to save (time, money etc.)

   il faut épargner sur la nourriture

   you have to save on food

2. to save, spare (someone from something)

Conjugation

Conjugation of épargner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	épargner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	épargnant /e.paʁ.ɲɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		épargné /e.paʁ.ɲe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	épargne /e.paʁɲ/	épargnes /e.paʁɲ/	épargne /e.paʁɲ/	épargnons /e.paʁ.ɲɔ̃/	épargnez /e.paʁ.ɲe/	épargnent /e.paʁɲ/
	imperfect	épargnais /e.paʁ.ɲɛ/	épargnais /e.paʁ.ɲɛ/	épargnait /e.paʁ.ɲɛ/	épargnions /e.paʁ.ɲjɔ̃/	épargniez /e.paʁ.ɲje/	épargnaient /e.paʁ.ɲɛ/
	past historic2	épargnai /e.paʁ.ɲe/	épargnas /e.paʁ.ɲa/	épargna /e.paʁ.ɲa/	épargnâmes /e.paʁ.ɲam/	épargnâtes /e.paʁ.ɲat/	épargnèrent /e.paʁ.ɲɛʁ/
	future	épargnerai /e.paʁ.ɲə.ʁe/	épargneras /e.paʁ.ɲə.ʁa/	épargnera /e.paʁ.ɲə.ʁa/	épargnerons /e.paʁ.ɲə.ʁɔ̃/	épargnerez /e.paʁ.ɲə.ʁe/	épargneront /e.paʁ.ɲə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	épargnerais /e.paʁ.ɲə.ʁɛ/	épargnerais /e.paʁ.ɲə.ʁɛ/	épargnerait /e.paʁ.ɲə.ʁɛ/	épargnerions /e.paʁ.ɲə.ʁjɔ̃/	épargneriez /e.paʁ.ɲə.ʁje/	épargneraient /e.paʁ.ɲə.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	épargne /e.paʁɲ/	épargnes /e.paʁɲ/	épargne /e.paʁɲ/	épargnions /e.paʁ.ɲjɔ̃/	épargniez /e.paʁ.ɲje/	épargnent /e.paʁɲ/
	imperfect2	épargnasse /e.paʁ.ɲas/	épargnasses /e.paʁ.ɲas/	épargnât /e.paʁ.ɲa/	épargnassions /e.paʁ.ɲa.sjɔ̃/	épargnassiez /e.paʁ.ɲa.sje/	épargnassent /e.paʁ.ɲas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	épargne /e.paʁɲ/	—	épargnons /e.paʁ.ɲɔ̃/	épargnez /e.paʁ.ɲe/	—
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: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• un point fait à temps en épargne cent

 

Further reading

• “épargner”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.