initier

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin initiāre. Compare also commencer.

The "start" sense is a semantic loan from English initiate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.ni.sje/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Verb

initier

1. to initiate (to introduce into a religion, sect, art, etc.)
2. to start, to initiate

   Synonyms: commencer, démarrer

   Antonyms: terminer, finir, cesser, arrêter

Conjugation

Conjugation of initier (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	initier
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	initiant /i.ni.sjɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		initié /i.ni.sje/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	initie /i.ni.si/	inities /i.ni.si/	initie /i.ni.si/	initions /i.ni.sjɔ̃/	initiez /i.ni.sje/	initient /i.ni.si/
	imperfect	initiais /i.ni.sjɛ/	initiais /i.ni.sjɛ/	initiait /i.ni.sjɛ/	initiions /i.ni.si.jɔ̃/	initiiez /i.ni.si.je/	initiaient /i.ni.sjɛ/
	past historic2	initiai /i.ni.sje/	initias /i.ni.sja/	initia /i.ni.sja/	initiâmes /i.ni.sjam/	initiâtes /i.ni.sjat/	initièrent /i.ni.sjɛʁ/
	future	initierai /i.ni.si.ʁe/	initieras /i.ni.si.ʁa/	initiera /i.ni.si.ʁa/	initierons /i.ni.si.ʁɔ̃/	initierez /i.ni.si.ʁe/	initieront /i.ni.si.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	initierais /i.ni.si.ʁɛ/	initierais /i.ni.si.ʁɛ/	initierait /i.ni.si.ʁɛ/	initierions /i.ni.si.ʁjɔ̃/	initieriez /i.ni.si.ʁje/	initieraient /i.ni.si.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	initie /i.ni.si/	inities /i.ni.si/	initie /i.ni.si/	initiions /i.ni.si.jɔ̃/	initiiez /i.ni.si.je/	initient /i.ni.si/
	imperfect2	initiasse /i.ni.sjas/	initiasses /i.ni.sjas/	initiât /i.ni.sja/	initiassions /i.ni.sja.sjɔ̃/	initiassiez /i.ni.sja.sje/	initiassent /i.ni.sjas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	initie /i.ni.si/	—	initions /i.ni.sjɔ̃/	initiez /i.ni.sje/	—
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

• délit d'initié

Related terms

• initiation

Descendants

• → Dutch: initiëren

Further reading

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

Latin

Verb

initier

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of initiō

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

initier

1. imperative of initiere