Kilo Lingo

/du.te/

Line drawing of douter
Coloured illustration of douter
#1984 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

to doubt; (reflexive, se douter de) to suspect, to have a fair idea

Word origin

From Latin dubitare ('to waver, to hesitate between two things'), from dubius ('doubtful'), which itself carries duo ('two'). Doubting is being of two minds. English doubt owes its silent b to scribes restoring the Latin spelling.

Origin
Latin
Root
dubitare
English cognates
doubt, dubious, indubitable

Grammar

Verb type-er regular (1st group); also used reflexively as se douter de

Conjugation

Regular -er conjugation. Pronouns: je, tu, il/elle, nous, vous, ils/elles.

Indicative

Person PresentImperfectPast historicFutureConditional
jedoutedoutaisdoutaidouteraidouterais
tudoutesdoutaisdoutasdouterasdouterais
il/elledoutedoutaitdoutadouteradouterait
nousdoutonsdoutionsdoutâmesdouteronsdouterions
vousdoutezdoutiezdoutâtesdouterezdouteriez
ils/ellesdoutentdoutaientdoutèrentdouterontdouteraient

Subjunctive

Person PresentImperfect
jedoutedoutasse
tudoutesdoutasses
il/elledoutedoutât
nousdoutionsdoutassions
vousdoutiezdoutassiez
ils/ellesdoutentdoutassent

Imperative

Person Affirmative
tudoute
nousdoutons
vousdoutez

Non-finite

Gerund / present participle
doutant
Past participle
douté · doutée · doutés · doutées

Examples

' .

I doubt he will come this evening.

honnêteté.

Nobody doubts his honesty.

'-.

She ended up doubting herself.

' .

I suspected as much from the start.

'.

You have no idea what is waiting for you.

Where this fits

Used in

Add to review queue

Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

Go to my review queue

French · Free printables

douter: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the French word "douter" (to doubt; (reflexive, se douter de) to suspect, to have a fair idea): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

Free for members

The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.

Start your free week

This word is part of lesson 40.