ménager

See also: menager

French

Etymology

From ménage +‎ -er.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /me.na.ʒe/
  • Audio(file)

Adjective

ménager (feminine ménagère, masculine plural ménagers, feminine plural ménagères)

  1. household; cleaning
    les tâches ménagères
    the household chores

Noun

ménager m (plural ménagers, feminine ménagère)

  1. (rare) househusband
    Synonym: homme au foyer

Verb

ménager

  1. to husband, to conserve
  2. to treat gently, treat nicely
  3. to conserve, go easy on
  4. (reflexive) to go easy, take it easy

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written ménage- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a "soft" /ʒ/ and not a "hard" /ɡ/). This spelling-change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.

Conjugation of ménager (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple ménager
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple ménageant
/me.na.ʒɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle ménagé
/me.na.ʒe/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses)		 present ménage
/me.naʒ/		 ménages
/me.naʒ/		 ménage
/me.naʒ/		 ménageons
/me.na.ʒɔ̃/		 ménagez
/me.na.ʒe/		 ménagent
/me.naʒ/
imperfect ménageais
/me.na.ʒɛ/		 ménageais
/me.na.ʒɛ/		 ménageait
/me.na.ʒɛ/		 ménagions
/me.na.ʒjɔ̃/		 ménagiez
/me.na.ʒje/		 ménageaient
/me.na.ʒɛ/
past historic2 ménageai
/me.na.ʒe/		 ménageas
/me.na.ʒa/		 ménagea
/me.na.ʒa/		 ménageâmes
/me.na.ʒam/		 ménageâtes
/me.na.ʒat/		 ménagèrent
/me.na.ʒɛʁ/
future ménagerai
/me.naʒ.ʁe/		 ménageras
/me.naʒ.ʁa/		 ménagera
/me.naʒ.ʁa/		 ménagerons
/me.naʒ.ʁɔ̃/		 ménagerez
/me.naʒ.ʁe/		 ménageront
/me.naʒ.ʁɔ̃/
conditional ménagerais
/me.naʒ.ʁɛ/		 ménagerais
/me.naʒ.ʁɛ/		 ménagerait
/me.naʒ.ʁɛ/		 ménagerions
/me.na.ʒə.ʁjɔ̃/		 ménageriez
/me.na.ʒə.ʁje/		 ménageraient
/me.naʒ.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 ménage
/me.naʒ/		 ménages
/me.naʒ/		 ménage
/me.naʒ/		 ménagions
/me.na.ʒjɔ̃/		 ménagiez
/me.na.ʒje/		 ménagent
/me.naʒ/
imperfect2 ménageasse
/me.na.ʒas/		 ménageasses
/me.na.ʒas/		 ménageât
/me.na.ʒa/		 ménageassions
/me.na.ʒa.sjɔ̃/		 ménageassiez
/me.na.ʒa.sje/		 ménageassent
/me.na.ʒas/
(compound
tenses)		 past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — ménage
/me.naʒ/		 — ménageons
/me.na.ʒɔ̃/		 ménagez
/me.na.ʒe/		 —
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

Further reading
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