congeler

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin congelāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃ʒ.le/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

Verb

congeler

1. freeze (to lower something's temperature to freezing point)

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like parler, except the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-, as in the third-person singular present indicative il congèle and the third-person singular future indicative il congèlera.

Conjugation of congeler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	congeler
	compound	avoir past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	congelant /kɔ̃ʒ.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant past participle
past participle		congelé /kɔ̃ʒ.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	congèle /kɔ̃.ʒɛl/	congèles /kɔ̃.ʒɛl/	congèle /kɔ̃.ʒɛl/	congelons /kɔ̃ʒ.lɔ̃/	congelez /kɔ̃ʒ.le/	congèlent /kɔ̃.ʒɛl/
	imperfect	congelais /kɔ̃ʒ.lɛ/	congelais /kɔ̃ʒ.lɛ/	congelait /kɔ̃ʒ.lɛ/	congelions /kɔ̃.ʒə.ljɔ̃/	congeliez /kɔ̃.ʒə.lje/	congelaient /kɔ̃ʒ.lɛ/
	past historic2	congelai /kɔ̃ʒ.le/	congelas /kɔ̃ʒ.la/	congela /kɔ̃ʒ.la/	congelâmes /kɔ̃ʒ.lam/	congelâtes /kɔ̃ʒ.lat/	congelèrent /kɔ̃ʒ.lɛʁ/
	future	congèlerai /kɔ̃.ʒɛl.ʁe/	congèleras /kɔ̃.ʒɛl.ʁa/	congèlera /kɔ̃.ʒɛl.ʁa/	congèlerons /kɔ̃.ʒɛl.ʁɔ̃/	congèlerez /kɔ̃.ʒɛl.ʁe/	congèleront /kɔ̃.ʒɛl.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	congèlerais /kɔ̃.ʒɛl.ʁɛ/	congèlerais /kɔ̃.ʒɛl.ʁɛ/	congèlerait /kɔ̃.ʒɛl.ʁɛ/	congèlerions /kɔ̃.ʒɛ.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /kɔ̃.ʒe.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	congèleriez /kɔ̃.ʒɛ.lə.ʁje/ or /kɔ̃.ʒe.lə.ʁje/	congèleraient /kɔ̃.ʒɛl.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	congèle /kɔ̃.ʒɛl/	congèles /kɔ̃.ʒɛl/	congèle /kɔ̃.ʒɛl/	congelions /kɔ̃.ʒə.ljɔ̃/	congeliez /kɔ̃.ʒə.lje/	congèlent /kɔ̃.ʒɛl/
	imperfect2	congelasse /kɔ̃ʒ.las/	congelasses /kɔ̃ʒ.las/	congelât /kɔ̃ʒ.la/	congelassions /kɔ̃ʒ.la.sjɔ̃/	congelassiez /kɔ̃ʒ.la.sje/	congelassent /kɔ̃ʒ.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	congèle /kɔ̃.ʒɛl/	—	congelons /kɔ̃ʒ.lɔ̃/	congelez /kɔ̃ʒ.le/	—
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).

Related terms

• congélateur
• congélation
• geler

Further reading

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