exagérer

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin exaggerō (“to exaggerate, amplify”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁe/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

Verb

exagérer

1. to exaggerate

   Synonym: (Quebec) charier

2. to go too far

   Je n’ai rien dit quand c’était seulement un peu de jalousie, mais là, tu exagères vraiment.

   I didn't say anything when it was just a bit of jealousy, but now you're really going too far.

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like céder. It is a regular -er verb, except that its last stem vowel alternates between /e/ (written 'é') and /ɛ/ (written 'è'), with the latter being used before mute 'e'. One special case is the future stem, used in the future and the conditional. Before 1990, the future stem of such verbs was written exagérer-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written exagèrer-, reflecting the now common pronunciation /ɛ/, thereby making this distinction consistent throughout the conjugation (and also matching in this regard the conjugations of verbs like lever and jeter). Both spellings are in use today, and both are therefore given here.

Conjugation of exagérer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	exagérer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	exagérant /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		exagéré /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	exagère /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/	exagères /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/	exagère /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/	exagérons /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁɔ̃/	exagérez /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁe/	exagèrent /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/
	imperfect	exagérais /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁɛ/	exagérais /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁɛ/	exagérait /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁɛ/	exagérions /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁjɔ̃/	exagériez /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁje/	exagéraient /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁɛ/
	past historic2	exagérai /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁe/	exagéras /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁa/	exagéra /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁa/	exagérâmes /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁam/	exagérâtes /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁat/	exagérèrent /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁɛʁ/
	future	exagèrerai or exagérerai /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁe/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁe/	exagèreras or exagéreras /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁa/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁa/	exagèrera or exagérera /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁa/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁa/	exagèrerons or exagérerons /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/	exagèrerez or exagérerez /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁe/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁe/	exagèreront or exagéreront /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	exagèrerais or exagérerais /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁɛ/	exagèrerais or exagérerais /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁɛ/	exagèrerait or exagérerait /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁɛ/	exagèrerions or exagérerions /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	exagèreriez or exagéreriez /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁje/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.ʁje/	exagèreraient or exagéreraient /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁə.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	exagère /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/	exagères /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/	exagère /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/	exagérions /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁjɔ̃/	exagériez /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁje/	exagèrent /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/
	imperfect2	exagérasse /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁas/	exagérasses /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁas/	exagérât /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁa/	exagérassions /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁa.sjɔ̃/	exagérassiez /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁa.sje/	exagérassent /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	exagère /ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ/	—	exagérons /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁɔ̃/	exagérez /ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁe/	—
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

• exagération

Further reading

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