mettre

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French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Middle French mettre, from Old French metre, from Latin mittere, probably from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to exchange, remove”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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mettre

  1. (transitive) to put; to place
    • 1993, Aline Tauzin, Contes arabes de Mauritanie, →ISBN, page 133:
      il a pris un chiffon grisâtre et l’a mis sur la plaie
      He took a grayish cloth and placed it over the wound.
  2. (transitive, of clothing) to put on
    Antonym: enlever
    • 2005, Marc Le Goupils, Revue de Paris, page 350:
      Elle n’avait pas mis son écharpe sur ses cheveux blonds
      She hadn't put her scarf over her blond hair.
  3. (transitive) to set (to lay a table)
    • 1846, Jean Mallat de Bassilan, Les Philippines: histoire, géographie, moeurs, agriculture, industrie et commerce des colonies espagnoles dans l'Océanie, page 196:
      Il est déjà temps de manger / Mettez la table et la nappe
      It's already time to eat / Lay the table, put the cloth on.
  4. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to start (+ à) (something / doing something), to get around to doing something
    • 1829, Victor Hugo, Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné, section XXXIII:
      J’ouvris au hasard, je me rapprochai d’elle, elle appuya son épaule à mon épaule, et nous nous mîmes à lire chacun de notre côté, tout bas, la même page.
      I opened at random, I got close to her, she pressed her shoulder against my shoulder, and we each of us began on our own silently to read the same page.

Conjugation

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This verb is conjugated like battre except that its past participle is mis, not *mettu, and its past historic and imperfect subjunctive are formed with mi-, not *metti-.

Conjugation of mettre (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple mettre
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple mettant
/mɛ.tɑ̃/ or /me.tɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle mis
/mi/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present mets
/mɛ/ 		mets
/mɛ/ 		met
/mɛ/ 		mettons
/mɛ.tɔ̃/ or /me.tɔ̃/ 		mettez
/mɛ.te/ or /me.te/ 		mettent
/mɛt/
imperfect mettais
/mɛ.tɛ/ or /me.tɛ/ 		mettais
/mɛ.tɛ/ or /me.tɛ/ 		mettait
/mɛ.tɛ/ or /me.tɛ/ 		mettions
/mɛ.tjɔ̃/ or /me.tjɔ̃/ 		mettiez
/mɛ.tje/ or /me.tje/ 		mettaient
/mɛ.tɛ/ or /me.tɛ/
past historic2 mis
/mi/ 		mis
/mi/ 		mit
/mi/ 		mîmes
/mim/ 		mîtes
/mit/ 		mirent
/miʁ/
future mettrai
/mɛ.tʁe/ or /me.tʁe/ 		mettras
/mɛ.tʁa/ or /me.tʁa/ 		mettra
/mɛ.tʁa/ or /me.tʁa/ 		mettrons
/mɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /me.tʁɔ̃/ 		mettrez
/mɛ.tʁe/ or /me.tʁe/ 		mettront
/mɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /me.tʁɔ̃/
conditional mettrais
/mɛ.tʁɛ/ or /me.tʁɛ/ 		mettrais
/mɛ.tʁɛ/ or /me.tʁɛ/ 		mettrait
/mɛ.tʁɛ/ or /me.tʁɛ/ 		mettrions
/mɛ.tʁi.jɔ̃/ or /me.tʁi.jɔ̃/ 		mettriez
/mɛ.tʁi.je/ or /me.tʁi.je/ 		mettraient
/mɛ.tʁɛ/ or /me.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 mette
/mɛt/ 		mettes
/mɛt/ 		mette
/mɛt/ 		mettions
/mɛ.tjɔ̃/ or /me.tjɔ̃/ 		mettiez
/mɛ.tje/ or /me.tje/ 		mettent
/mɛt/
imperfect2 misse
/mis/ 		misses
/mis/ 		mît
/mi/ 		missions
/mi.sjɔ̃/ 		missiez
/mi.sje/ 		missent
/mis/
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — mets
/mɛ/ 		— mettons
/mɛ.tɔ̃/ or /me.tɔ̃/ 		mettez
/mɛ.te/ or /me.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).

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Saint Dominican Creole French: mété
    • Haitian Creole: mete

Further reading

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Middle French

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old French metre, from Latin mittō.

Verb

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mettre

  1. to put; to place

Conjugation

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  • Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.
Conjugation of mettre
infinitive simple mettre
compound avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2 simple mettant
compound present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle mis
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative ie (i’) tu il, elle nous vous ilz, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present mets mets met mettons mettez mettent
imperfect mettois, mettoys mettois, mettoys mettoit, mettoyt mettions mettiez mettoient, mettoyent
past historic mis mis mit mismes mistes mirent
future mettroie, mettroye mettras mettra mettrons mettrez mettront
conditional mettrois, mettroys mettrois, mettroys mettroit, mettroyt mettrions mettriez mettroient, mettroyent
(compound
tenses) 		present perfect present indicative of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
past anterior past historic of avoir + past participle
future perfect future of avoir + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive que ie (i’) que tu qu’il, qu’elle que nous que vous qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple
tenses) 		present mette mettes mette mettions mettiez menttent
imperfect misse misses mist missions missiez missent
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — mets — mettons mettez —
compound — simple imperative of avoir + past participle — simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle —
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Descendants

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Norman

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old French metre, from Latin mittō, mittere.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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mettre

  1. (Jersey) to put

Antonyms

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Derived terms

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