prolonger

English

Etymology

From prolong +‎ -er.

Noun

prolonger (plural prolongers)

1. One who or that which prolongs, or lengthens in time or space.
   • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 173:

     It imparts a sweetness to the breath, is a valuable medicine in all nervous complaints, and is esteemed as a prolonger of life and an exciter of venery.

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “prolonger”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “prolonger”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin prolongāre. Cf. also Old French porloignier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒe/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Verb

prolonger

1. to prolong

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written prolonge- 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 prolonger (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	prolonger
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	prolongeant /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		prolongé /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	prolonge /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ/	prolonges /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ/	prolonge /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ/	prolongeons /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒɔ̃/	prolongez /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒe/	prolongent /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ/
	imperfect	prolongeais /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒɛ/	prolongeais /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒɛ/	prolongeait /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒɛ/	prolongions /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒjɔ̃/	prolongiez /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒje/	prolongeaient /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒɛ/
	past historic2	prolongeai /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒe/	prolongeas /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒa/	prolongea /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒa/	prolongeâmes /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒam/	prolongeâtes /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒat/	prolongèrent /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒɛʁ/
	future	prolongerai /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ.ʁe/	prolongeras /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ.ʁa/	prolongera /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ.ʁa/	prolongerons /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ.ʁɔ̃/	prolongerez /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ.ʁe/	prolongeront /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	prolongerais /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ.ʁɛ/	prolongerais /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ.ʁɛ/	prolongerait /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ.ʁɛ/	prolongerions /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒə.ʁjɔ̃/	prolongeriez /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒə.ʁje/	prolongeraient /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ.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	prolonge /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ/	prolonges /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ/	prolonge /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ/	prolongions /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒjɔ̃/	prolongiez /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒje/	prolongent /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ/
	imperfect2	prolongeasse /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒas/	prolongeasses /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒas/	prolongeât /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒa/	prolongeassions /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒa.sjɔ̃/	prolongeassiez /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒa.sje/	prolongeassent /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	prolonge /pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ/	—	prolongeons /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒɔ̃/	prolongez /pʁɔ.lɔ̃.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).

Related terms

• prolongation

Further reading

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

Latin

Verb

prōlonger

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of prōlongō