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Definition 2025
achever
achever
French
Verb
achever
- (transitive) to finish, to complete
- 1837, Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manchefr.Wikisource, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Chapter II:
- Ayant donc achevé ses préparatifs, il ne voulut pas attendre davantage pour mettre à exécution son projet.
- Having thus completed his preparations, he did not want to wait any longer to put his project into execution.
-
- (transitive) to finish off (someone who is already incapacitated)
- (reflexive, s'achever) to finish
Derived terms
Conjugation
This verb is conjugated mostly like the regular -er verbs (parler and chanter and so on), but the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-. For example, in the third-person singular present indicative, we have il achève rather than *il acheve. Other verbs conjugated this way include lever and mener. Related but distinct conjugations include those of appeler and préférer.
Conjugation of achever (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | achever | avoir achevé | |||||
| gerund | en achevant | en ayant achevé | |||||
| present participle | achevant /aʃ.vɑ̃/ |
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| past participle | achevé /aʃ.ve/ |
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| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | achève /a.ʃɛv/ |
achèves /a.ʃɛv/ |
achève /a.ʃɛv/ |
achevons /aʃ.vɔ̃/ |
achevez /aʃ.ve/ |
achèvent /a.ʃɛv/ |
| imperfect | achevais /aʃ.vɛ/ |
achevais /aʃ.vɛ/ |
achevait /aʃ.vɛ/ |
achevions /a.ʃə.vjɔ̃/ |
acheviez /a.ʃə.vje/ |
achevaient /aʃ.vɛ/ |
|
| past historic1 | achevai /aʃ.ve/ |
achevas /aʃ.va/ |
acheva /aʃ.va/ |
achevâmes /aʃ.vam/ |
achevâtes /aʃ.vat/ |
achevèrent /aʃ.vɛʁ/ |
|
| future | achèverai /a.ʃɛ.vʁe/ |
achèveras /a.ʃɛ.vʁa/ |
achèvera /a.ʃɛ.vʁa/ |
achèverons /a.ʃɛ.vʁɔ̃/ |
achèverez /a.ʃɛ.vʁe/ |
achèveront /a.ʃɛ.vʁɔ̃/ |
|
| conditional | achèverais /a.ʃɛ.vʁɛ/ |
achèverais /a.ʃɛ.vʁɛ/ |
achèverait /a.ʃɛ.vʁɛ/ |
achèverions /a.ʃɛ.və.ʁjɔ̃/ |
achèveriez /a.ʃɛ.və.ʁje/ |
achèveraient /a.ʃɛ.vʁɛ/ |
|
| compound tenses |
present perfect | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior1 | Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il | que nous | que vous | qu’ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | achève /a.ʃɛv/ |
achèves /a.ʃɛv/ |
achève /a.ʃɛv/ |
achevions /a.ʃə.vjɔ̃/ |
acheviez /a.ʃə.vje/ |
achèvent /a.ʃɛv/ |
| imperfect1 |
achevasse /aʃ.vas/ |
achevasses /aʃ.vas/ |
achevât /aʃ.va/ |
achevassions /aʃ.va.sjɔ̃/ |
achevassiez /aʃ.va.sje/ |
achevassent /aʃ.vas/ |
|
| compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect1 | Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nous | vous | – | |
| — | achève /a.ʃɛv/ |
— | achevons /aʃ.vɔ̃/ |
achevez /aʃ.ve/ |
— | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||
Anagrams
Middle French
Verb
achever
Conjugation
- Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.
Conjugation of achever
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | achever | avoir achevé | |||||
| gerund | en achevant | Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| present participle | achevant | ||||||
| past participle | achevé | ||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | ie (may be i' before a vowel) | tu | il | nous | vous | ilz, elles | |
| simple tenses |
present | acheve | acheves | acheve | achevons | achevez | achevent |
| imperfect | achevois, achevoys | achevois, achevoys | achevoit, achevoyt | achevions, achevyons | acheviez, achevyez | achevoient, achevoyent | |
| past historic | acheva | achevas | acheva | achevasmes | achevastes | acheverent | |
| future | acheverai, acheveray | acheveras | achevera | acheverons | acheverez | acheveront | |
| conditional | acheverois, acheveroys | acheverois, acheveroys | acheveroit, acheveroyt | acheverions, acheveryons | acheveriez, acheveryez | acheveroient, acheveroyent | |
| compound tenses |
present perfect | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior | Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que ie | que tu | qu'il | que nous | que vous | qu'ilz, qu'elles | |
| simple tenses |
present | acheve | acheves | acheve | achevons | achevez | achevent |
| imperfect | achevasse | achevasses | achevast | achevassions | achevassiez | achevassent | |
| compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nous | vous | – | |
| — | acheve | — | achevons | achevez | — | ||