ciseler

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French cisel (“pair of scissors”) + -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siz.le/

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Verb

ciseler

1. to chisel
2. (of spices) to chop finely

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like parler, except the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-, as in the third-person singular present indicative il cisèle and the third-person singular future indicative il cisèlera.

Conjugation of ciseler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	ciseler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	ciselant /siz.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		ciselé /siz.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	cisèle /si.zɛl/	cisèles /si.zɛl/	cisèle /si.zɛl/	ciselons /siz.lɔ̃/	ciselez /siz.le/	cisèlent /si.zɛl/
	imperfect	ciselais /siz.lɛ/	ciselais /siz.lɛ/	ciselait /siz.lɛ/	ciselions /si.zə.ljɔ̃/	ciseliez /si.zə.lje/	ciselaient /siz.lɛ/
	past historic2	ciselai /siz.le/	ciselas /siz.la/	cisela /siz.la/	ciselâmes /siz.lam/	ciselâtes /siz.lat/	ciselèrent /siz.lɛʁ/
	future	cisèlerai /si.zɛl.ʁe/	cisèleras /si.zɛl.ʁa/	cisèlera /si.zɛl.ʁa/	cisèlerons /si.zɛl.ʁɔ̃/	cisèlerez /si.zɛl.ʁe/	cisèleront /si.zɛl.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	cisèlerais /si.zɛl.ʁɛ/	cisèlerais /si.zɛl.ʁɛ/	cisèlerait /si.zɛl.ʁɛ/	cisèlerions /si.zɛ.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /si.ze.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	cisèleriez /si.zɛ.lə.ʁje/ or /si.ze.lə.ʁje/	cisèleraient /si.zɛl.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	cisèle /si.zɛl/	cisèles /si.zɛl/	cisèle /si.zɛl/	ciselions /si.zə.ljɔ̃/	ciseliez /si.zə.lje/	cisèlent /si.zɛl/
	imperfect2	ciselasse /siz.las/	ciselasses /siz.las/	ciselât /siz.la/	ciselassions /siz.la.sjɔ̃/	ciselassiez /siz.la.sje/	ciselassent /siz.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	cisèle /si.zɛl/	—	ciselons /siz.lɔ̃/	ciselez /siz.le/	—
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

• ciseau
• ciselage
• ciselure

Descendants

• → Romanian: cizela

Further reading

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