clicher

French

Etymology

Imitative of the sound of a mold striking molten metal, similar to click.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

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Verb

clicher

1. to stereotype (in either sense of the word)

Conjugation

Conjugation of clicher (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	clicher
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	clichant /kli.ʃɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		cliché /kli.ʃe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	cliche /kliʃ/	cliches /kliʃ/	cliche /kliʃ/	clichons /kli.ʃɔ̃/	clichez /kli.ʃe/	clichent /kliʃ/
	imperfect	clichais /kli.ʃɛ/	clichais /kli.ʃɛ/	clichait /kli.ʃɛ/	clichions /kli.ʃjɔ̃/	clichiez /kli.ʃje/	clichaient /kli.ʃɛ/
	past historic2	clichai /kli.ʃe/	clichas /kli.ʃa/	clicha /kli.ʃa/	clichâmes /kli.ʃam/	clichâtes /kli.ʃat/	clichèrent /kli.ʃɛʁ/
	future	clicherai /kliʃ.ʁe/	clicheras /kliʃ.ʁa/	clichera /kliʃ.ʁa/	clicherons /kliʃ.ʁɔ̃/	clicherez /kliʃ.ʁe/	clicheront /kliʃ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	clicherais /kliʃ.ʁɛ/	clicherais /kliʃ.ʁɛ/	clicherait /kliʃ.ʁɛ/	clicherions /kli.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/	clicheriez /kli.ʃə.ʁje/	clicheraient /kliʃ.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	cliche /kliʃ/	cliches /kliʃ/	cliche /kliʃ/	clichions /kli.ʃjɔ̃/	clichiez /kli.ʃje/	clichent /kliʃ/
	imperfect2	clichasse /kli.ʃas/	clichasses /kli.ʃas/	clichât /kli.ʃa/	clichassions /kli.ʃa.sjɔ̃/	clichassiez /kli.ʃa.sje/	clichassent /kli.ʃas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	cliche /kliʃ/	—	clichons /kli.ʃɔ̃/	clichez /kli.ʃe/	—
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).

Descendants

• English: cliché (from past participle)

Further reading

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