zézayer

French

Etymology

Onomatopoeic formation from a reduplication of z.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ze.zɛ.je/, /ze.ze.je/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

zézayer

1. to pronounce "zh" (/ʒ/) as "z" (/z/) and "sh" (/ʃ/) as "s" (/s/); loosely, to lisp, to slur

   Synonym: zozoter

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb as far as pronunciation is concerned, but as with other verbs in -ayer (such as payer and essayer, the <y> of its stem may optionally be written as <i> when it precedes a silent <e> (compare verbs in -eyer, which never have this spelling change, and verbs in -oyer and -uyer, which always have it; verbs in -ayer belong to either group, according to the writer's preference).

Conjugation of zézayer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	zézayer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	zézayant /ze.zɛ.jɑ̃/ or /ze.ze.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		zézayé /ze.zɛ.je/ or /ze.ze.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	zézaye or zézaie /ze.zɛj/ or /ze.zɛ/	zézayes or zézaies /ze.zɛj/ or /ze.zɛ/	zézaye or zézaie /ze.zɛj/ or /ze.zɛ/	zézayons /ze.zɛ.jɔ̃/ or /ze.ze.jɔ̃/	zézayez /ze.zɛ.je/ or /ze.ze.je/	zézayent or zézaient /ze.zɛj/ or /ze.zɛ/
	imperfect	zézayais /ze.zɛ.jɛ/ or /ze.ze.jɛ/	zézayais /ze.zɛ.jɛ/ or /ze.ze.jɛ/	zézayait /ze.zɛ.jɛ/ or /ze.ze.jɛ/	zézayions /ze.zɛj.jɔ̃/	zézayiez /ze.zɛj.je/	zézayaient /ze.zɛ.jɛ/ or /ze.ze.jɛ/
	past historic2	zézayai /ze.zɛ.je/ or /ze.ze.je/	zézayas /ze.zɛ.ja/ or /ze.ze.ja/	zézaya /ze.zɛ.ja/ or /ze.ze.ja/	zézayâmes /ze.zɛ.jam/ or /ze.ze.jam/	zézayâtes /ze.zɛ.jat/ or /ze.ze.jat/	zézayèrent /ze.zɛ.jɛʁ/ or /ze.ze.jɛʁ/
	future	zézayerai or zézaierai /ze.zɛj.ʁe/ or /ze.zɛ.ʁe/ or /ze.ze.ʁe/	zézayeras or zézaieras /ze.zɛj.ʁa/ or /ze.zɛ.ʁa/ or /ze.ze.ʁa/	zézayera or zézaiera /ze.zɛj.ʁa/ or /ze.zɛ.ʁa/ or /ze.ze.ʁa/	zézayerons or zézaierons /ze.zɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /ze.zɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ze.ze.ʁɔ̃/	zézayerez or zézaierez /ze.zɛj.ʁe/ or /ze.zɛ.ʁe/ or /ze.ze.ʁe/	zézayeront or zézaieront /ze.zɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /ze.zɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ze.ze.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	zézayerais or zézaierais /ze.zɛj.ʁɛ/ or /ze.zɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ze.ze.ʁɛ/	zézayerais or zézaierais /ze.zɛj.ʁɛ/ or /ze.zɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ze.ze.ʁɛ/	zézayerait or zézaierait /ze.zɛj.ʁɛ/ or /ze.zɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ze.ze.ʁɛ/	zézayerions or zézaierions /ze.zɛ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ze.ze.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ze.zɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ze.ze.ʁjɔ̃/	zézayeriez or zézaieriez /ze.zɛ.jə.ʁje/ or /ze.ze.jə.ʁje/ or /ze.zɛ.ʁje/ or /ze.ze.ʁje/	zézayeraient or zézaieraient /ze.zɛj.ʁɛ/ or /ze.zɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ze.ze.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	zézaye or zézaie /ze.zɛj/ or /ze.zɛ/	zézayes or zézaies /ze.zɛj/ or /ze.zɛ/	zézaye or zézaie /ze.zɛj/ or /ze.zɛ/	zézayions /ze.zɛj.jɔ̃/	zézayiez /ze.zɛj.je/	zézayent or zézaient /ze.zɛj/ or /ze.zɛ/
	imperfect2	zézayasse /ze.zɛ.jas/ or /ze.ze.jas/	zézayasses /ze.zɛ.jas/ or /ze.ze.jas/	zézayât /ze.zɛ.ja/ or /ze.ze.ja/	zézayassions /ze.zɛ.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /ze.ze.ja.sjɔ̃/	zézayassiez /ze.zɛ.ja.sje/ or /ze.ze.ja.sje/	zézayassent /ze.zɛ.jas/ or /ze.ze.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	zézaye or zézaie /ze.zɛj/ or /ze.zɛ/	—	zézayons /ze.zɛ.jɔ̃/ or /ze.ze.jɔ̃/	zézayez /ze.zɛ.je/ or /ze.ze.je/	—
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

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