ponter

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French pounter. By surface analysis, pont ‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔ̃.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

ponter

1. to build a bridge
2. (nautical) to cover a boat with a deck
   • 1888, P. A. Hennique, Les caboteurs et pêcheurs de la côte de Tunisie: pêche des éponges‎^[1], page 57:

     […] c’est le plus petit bateau qu’on ose exposer à la mer du large; il est ponté, d’une construction solide […]

     […] it is the smallest boat one dares expose to the open sea; it is covered with a deck, solidly built […]

Conjugation

Conjugation of ponter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	ponter
	compound	avoir past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	pontant /pɔ̃.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant past participle
past participle		ponté /pɔ̃.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	ponte /pɔ̃t/	pontes /pɔ̃t/	ponte /pɔ̃t/	pontons /pɔ̃.tɔ̃/	pontez /pɔ̃.te/	pontent /pɔ̃t/
	imperfect	pontais /pɔ̃.tɛ/	pontais /pɔ̃.tɛ/	pontait /pɔ̃.tɛ/	pontions /pɔ̃.tjɔ̃/	pontiez /pɔ̃.tje/	pontaient /pɔ̃.tɛ/
	past historic2	pontai /pɔ̃.te/	pontas /pɔ̃.ta/	ponta /pɔ̃.ta/	pontâmes /pɔ̃.tam/	pontâtes /pɔ̃.tat/	pontèrent /pɔ̃.tɛʁ/
	future	ponterai /pɔ̃.tʁe/	ponteras /pɔ̃.tʁa/	pontera /pɔ̃.tʁa/	ponterons /pɔ̃.tʁɔ̃/	ponterez /pɔ̃.tʁe/	ponteront /pɔ̃.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	ponterais /pɔ̃.tʁɛ/	ponterais /pɔ̃.tʁɛ/	ponterait /pɔ̃.tʁɛ/	ponterions /pɔ̃.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	ponteriez /pɔ̃.tə.ʁje/	ponteraient /pɔ̃.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	ponte /pɔ̃t/	pontes /pɔ̃t/	ponte /pɔ̃t/	pontions /pɔ̃.tjɔ̃/	pontiez /pɔ̃.tje/	pontent /pɔ̃t/
	imperfect2	pontasse /pɔ̃.tas/	pontasses /pɔ̃.tas/	pontât /pɔ̃.ta/	pontassions /pɔ̃.ta.sjɔ̃/	pontassiez /pɔ̃.ta.sje/	pontassent /pɔ̃.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	ponte /pɔ̃t/	—	pontons /pɔ̃.tɔ̃/	pontez /pɔ̃.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: 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).

Further reading

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