heurter

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French heurter, from Old French hurter (“to ram into, strike, collide with”), from Frankish *hūrt (“a battering ram”), from Proto-Germanic *hrūtaną, *hreutaną (“to fall, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *krew- (“to fall, beat, smash, strike, break”). Cognate with Dutch horten (“to push against, strike”), Middle Low German hurten (“to run at, collide with”), Old Norse hrútr (“battering ram”).

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /œʁ.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -e
• Homophones: heurtai, heurté, heurtée, heurtées, heurtés, heurtez

Verb

heurter

1. to strike, hit
2. to clash, conflict with
3. (reflexive) to crash, collide (together)
4. (reflexive, of opinions) to clash

Conjugation

Conjugation of heurter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	heurter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	heurtant /œʁ.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		heurté /œʁ.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	heurte /œʁt/	heurtes /œʁt/	heurte /œʁt/	heurtons /œʁ.tɔ̃/	heurtez /œʁ.te/	heurtent /œʁt/
	imperfect	heurtais /œʁ.tɛ/	heurtais /œʁ.tɛ/	heurtait /œʁ.tɛ/	heurtions /œʁ.tjɔ̃/	heurtiez /œʁ.tje/	heurtaient /œʁ.tɛ/
	past historic2	heurtai /œʁ.te/	heurtas /œʁ.ta/	heurta /œʁ.ta/	heurtâmes /œʁ.tam/	heurtâtes /œʁ.tat/	heurtèrent /œʁ.tɛʁ/
	future	heurterai /œʁ.tə.ʁe/	heurteras /œʁ.tə.ʁa/	heurtera /œʁ.tə.ʁa/	heurterons /œʁ.tə.ʁɔ̃/	heurterez /œʁ.tə.ʁe/	heurteront /œʁ.tə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	heurterais /œʁ.tə.ʁɛ/	heurterais /œʁ.tə.ʁɛ/	heurterait /œʁ.tə.ʁɛ/	heurterions /œʁ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	heurteriez /œʁ.tə.ʁje/	heurteraient /œʁ.tə.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	heurte /œʁt/	heurtes /œʁt/	heurte /œʁt/	heurtions /œʁ.tjɔ̃/	heurtiez /œʁ.tje/	heurtent /œʁt/
	imperfect2	heurtasse /œʁ.tas/	heurtasses /œʁ.tas/	heurtât /œʁ.ta/	heurtassions /œʁ.ta.sjɔ̃/	heurtassiez /œʁ.ta.sje/	heurtassent /œʁ.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	heurte /œʁt/	—	heurtons /œʁ.tɔ̃/	heurtez /œʁ.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

• entre-heurter / entreheurter

Related terms

• heurt
• heurté
• heurtoir

Further reading

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

Middle French

Verb

heurter

1. (reflexive, se heurter) to collide (with something)
   • 1488, Jean Dupré, Lancelot du Lac, page 39:

     si se heurta si durement a une pierre qu'il se fist une grande playe en la teste

     then he collided with such a force into a stone that he gave himself a large wound on his head

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of heurter

infinitive	simple	heurter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	heurtant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		heurté
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	heurte	heurtes	heurte	heurtons	heurtez	heurtent
	imperfect	heurtois, heurtoys	heurtois, heurtoys	heurtoit, heurtoyt	heurtions, heurtyons	heurtiez, heurtyez	heurtoient, heurtoyent
	past historic	heurta	heurtas	heurta	heurtasmes	heurtastes	heurterent
	future	heurterai, heurteray	heurteras	heurtera	heurterons	heurterez	heurteront
	conditional	heurterois, heurteroys	heurterois, heurteroys	heurteroit, heurteroyt	heurterions, heurteryons	heurteriez, heurteryez	heurteroient, heurteroyent
(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	heurte	heurtes	heurte	heurtons	heurtez	heurtent
	imperfect	heurtasse	heurtasses	heurtast	heurtassions	heurtassiez	heurtassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	heurte	—	heurtons	heurtez	—
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).

Norman

Etymology

From Old French hurter (“to ram into, strike, collide with”), from Frankish *hūrt (“a battering ram”), from Proto-Germanic *hrūtaną (“to fall, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *krow- (“to fall, beat, break”).

Verb

heurter

1. (Jersey) to bump