tâtonner

French

Etymology

From tâter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ta.tɔ.ne/ ~ /tɑ.tɔ.ne/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

tâtonner

1. (intransitive) to feel one's way, grope around

Conjugation

Conjugation of tâtonner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	tâtonner
	compound	avoir past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	tâtonnant /ta.tɔ.nɑ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant past participle
past participle		tâtonné /ta.tɔ.ne/ or /tɑ.tɔ.ne/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tâtonne /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/	tâtonnes /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/	tâtonne /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/	tâtonnons /ta.tɔ.nɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nɔ̃/	tâtonnez /ta.tɔ.ne/ or /tɑ.tɔ.ne/	tâtonnent /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/
	imperfect	tâtonnais /ta.tɔ.nɛ/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nɛ/	tâtonnais /ta.tɔ.nɛ/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nɛ/	tâtonnait /ta.tɔ.nɛ/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nɛ/	tâtonnions /ta.tɔ.njɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔ.njɔ̃/	tâtonniez /ta.tɔ.nje/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nje/	tâtonnaient /ta.tɔ.nɛ/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nɛ/
	past historic2	tâtonnai /ta.tɔ.ne/ or /tɑ.tɔ.ne/	tâtonnas /ta.tɔ.na/ or /tɑ.tɔ.na/	tâtonna /ta.tɔ.na/ or /tɑ.tɔ.na/	tâtonnâmes /ta.tɔ.nam/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nam/	tâtonnâtes /ta.tɔ.nat/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nat/	tâtonnèrent /ta.tɔ.nɛʁ/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nɛʁ/
	future	tâtonnerai /ta.tɔn.ʁe/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁe/	tâtonneras /ta.tɔn.ʁa/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁa/	tâtonnera /ta.tɔn.ʁa/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁa/	tâtonnerons /ta.tɔn.ʁɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁɔ̃/	tâtonnerez /ta.tɔn.ʁe/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁe/	tâtonneront /ta.tɔn.ʁɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	tâtonnerais /ta.tɔn.ʁɛ/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁɛ/	tâtonnerais /ta.tɔn.ʁɛ/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁɛ/	tâtonnerait /ta.tɔn.ʁɛ/ or /tɑ.tɔn.ʁɛ/	tâtonnerions /ta.tɔ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/	tâtonneriez /ta.tɔ.nə.ʁje/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nə.ʁje/	tâtonneraient /ta.tɔn.ʁɛ/ or /tɑ.tɔn.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	tâtonne /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/	tâtonnes /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/	tâtonne /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/	tâtonnions /ta.tɔ.njɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔ.njɔ̃/	tâtonniez /ta.tɔ.nje/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nje/	tâtonnent /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/
	imperfect2	tâtonnasse /ta.tɔ.nas/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nas/	tâtonnasses /ta.tɔ.nas/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nas/	tâtonnât /ta.tɔ.na/ or /tɑ.tɔ.na/	tâtonnassions /ta.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃/	tâtonnassiez /ta.tɔ.na.sje/ or /tɑ.tɔ.na.sje/	tâtonnassent /ta.tɔ.nas/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tâtonne /ta.tɔn/ or /tɑ.tɔn/	—	tâtonnons /ta.tɔ.nɔ̃/ or /tɑ.tɔ.nɔ̃/	tâtonnez /ta.tɔ.ne/ or /tɑ.tɔ.ne/	—
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

• tâtonnement

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• renotant